Rage against the night
by gods-own
Summary: A darker take on the transformers prime story, expect violence, swearing and mature themes as the story develops, its Jack but not as we know him. all rights reserved by their respective owners Hasbro Inc and Square Enix. CHAPTER 13 IS UP!
1. Chapter 1

**Rage against the night: Chapter 1  
**

 _"Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rage at close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light."_ The words slipped like greased velvet from the man's lips as he quietly read from the book held lightly in a gloved hand. " _Though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they do not go gentle into that good night."_ Unfortunately for the silent individual his moment of pleasant relaxation was rather bluntly interrupted by thundering whining that was emanating from inside a coat pocket.

"They better not be sending me back to that fucking jungle." muttered the figure as he raised the mobile phone to one ear; in retrospect he hadn't needed to as the person on the other end let themselves be known.

"God damn it Agent, where have you been!"

"I can hear you just find Agent Fowler, though I don't think they heard you over in Dublin." countered the man as he gingerly ran a hand over his aching ear.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you at the air base mister?" roared the rather irritated individual. "You were supposed be on that cargo plane Jack, you know the one that landed over an hour ago!"

"There's no need for concern Fowler I'm already within Jasper's city limits, I have been for some time." the announcement rather understandably did not go down so well the person on the other end of the phone.

"That was not your decision to make, the orders clearly..."

"My orders required me to meet you at the designated coordinates twenty miles south of the city, nothing more nothing less, when and how I arrive is up to me; are we clear agent?"

"Crystal" spat the unseen associate coldly.

"I'll finish my investigation of the town and meet you there in a few hours" that seemed to take the unwanted caller rather by surprise.

"Why the hell are you snooping around Jasper?"

"Because it's my job, I go where I'm told to go and do what I'm told to do; which normally involves ruining some else day, permanently." Said Jack as he left the last word hanging in the air for a long moment. "So when I'm instructed to go to some backwater in the middle of nowhere without a drop of intel I tend to get suspicious"

"I was going to brief you on the way to the location." Pointedly stated Fowler as he let out a deep sigh, rather fortunately for the listener something rather interesting decided at that exacted moment to waltzes brazenly by him.

"Got to go agent, something's just come up." the reply was lost in transit as Jack gratefully disconnected the call with a flick of his finger. "Now isn't that interesting" whispered the agent as a female figure clad head to toe in matte black leather homed into view, perched upon the back of a gleaming motorcycle. "Well aren't you a beauty." whispered the man as the pair arched into a nearby burger joint, he waited until the sounds of the engine had completely died away before slowly pulling himself upright once more. "Got to admit." grumbled the individual as he slowly made his way across the street "I've sat on more comfortable park benches" A small smile played across the man's face.

"Worth it though to piss off Fowler, bloody ranger gets on my nerves" he turned the buildings corner to come face to face with the unoccupied vehicle. "And there you are." quietly commented Jack as he slowly paced around his intended target "An original Ducati 848 in mint condition, I was half expecting an Evo model, they stop making you guys almost four years ago." the man paused as he lowered himself down on his haunches until he was at eye level with the bikes headlamps "Which raises the question what exactly are you?" the utter silence that followed didn't seem to faze the individual in the slightest. "Hey I've got all the time in the world." stated Jack evenly as he slowly tapped a finger on its bodywork. "But I get the distinct feeling that you don't." as if to reinforce the threat a pair of rumbling muscle cars came trundling around the nearest turn. "And by the looks of it those two aren't on your side either, so choose" the statement hung there for a long moment as if reality was making up its mind before there came a low snarl from directly in front of him.

"Damn you human." the man let out a short chuckle.

"Don't worry I have that effect on most people." Jack added dismissively as he glanced at the slowly approaching vehicles in a nearby window. "But right now I suggest that we run." before the Ducati could responded it found itself being calmly mounted as the figure swung a leg over onto the opposite side.

"What do you think you're doing?" Demanded the unseen speaker in a voice which was sounding more feminine with every passing moment.

"Escaping, unless you want to stay here and fight, which I guessing isn't something you want to do, judging by the way your acting."

"By the Primes will you shut up!" roared the bike angrily as it tore off down the street, muscle cars now hot on its tail "It's hard enough to focus with a stinking mammal on my back!"

"No need to be racist." replied Jack calmly as they darted down a grubby alleyway. "I was going to get off now anyway" and just like that the man stepped off, fortunately for him the Ducati had the presence of mind to brake just enough so that the individual only found himself sliding backwards for the merest of moments.

"Are you completely insane?" snapped the mount as it caught sight of the annoying person ambling off down a narrow side street.

"Probably" came the echoing response.

"I hate humans." muttered the bike as it caught sight of their pursuers. "I really do" the next few moments descended into a frantic haze as the Ducati performed a perfect donut before making a mad dash towards the opposite exit.

* * *

It was rather unfortunate thought the agent as he heard the rumble of a V12 engine; he'd kind of hoped that the maneuver would have dragged more opponents off the chase but judging by the rapidly approaching sound only one pursuer had taken the bait.

"Could be worse." coldly stated Jack as he stepped slowly back into then clinging shadows.

"No one could have come at all."

* * *

The Cadillac quietly pulled into the alleyway with a slow, hungry movement that begot its size as it slowly advanced up the corridor, scanning with its headlights as it went.

"Do you have readings on the target?" Demanded its colleague over the intercom.

"Negative."

"Then transform and conduct a thorough sweep of the area."

"And risk being detected?" Snarled the unseen driver as the vehicle came to a stop. "Are you completely out of your scrapping command module?"

"It's better than going back to base with your servos empty." came the curt response.

"Ugh, don't remind me" muttered the Cadillac as it seemingly started to break apart at the seams; gears and power feeds slipped into place as the towering giant pulled itself up right.

"You want to know what your first mistake was?" whispered a hard voice in the creatures' right receptor; the titan spun around in startled surprise only to see nothing but empty space. "Your first mistake" it repeated "Was turning your back on me!"

* * *

Agent Fowler was having a bad day, well to be honest every day was a bad day for him, but it just so happened to be that this particular bad day was becoming even worse by comparison, if that was at all possible.

"I don't get paid enough for this shit." muttered the dark skinned individual irritably as he straightened his tie before entering the waiting elevator. "Maybe I should just up and retire; go and live in Utah, nothing crazy ever happens in Utah. It's _Utah_ for christsake." the man let out a deep sigh. "Ah who am I kidding, knowing my luck I'd get there only to find the damn molemen were invading or something." but the individuals unhappy rambling was quickly put to one side as the lift he was currently ridding came to a shuddering halt. "Prime!" the thundering demand echoed out around the lofty area as the rather portly man stormed out into the abandoned missile silo, well mostly abandoned if you didn't count the towering colossi that turned to look at him with varying levels of frustration.

"Greetings agent Fowler" Answered the tallest of the group who came striding over towards the elevated platform that dominated one end of the large space. "What seems to be the problem?"

"My problem Prime, my problem is that your people don't seem to be able to keep themselves out of trouble, high speed chases through high populated areas, hand to hand fighting underneath highway bridges; are you trying to give me a stress induced heart attack?" the imposing figure raised a metallic hand in quiet acceptance as he attempted to placate the enraged visitor.

"Calm yourself agent Fowler, I give you my word that none of my family would ever knowingly risk human life, if it is within their power"

"Though it would make our lives a lot easier." grumbled a particularly hefty looking robot, who was standing with his arms crossed at the back of the group.

"That is not how we operate Bulkhead." stated Prime disapprovingly as he turned to glare at the individual behind them. "This is their planet and as long as we are guests here I expect you all to conduct yourselves accordingly, am I clear?"

"Yes Optimus" the blue and red painted giant smiled briefly as he heard the reply.

"If that doesn't work" added Fowler coldly as he locked eyes with the green titan. "I could always make you start paying back the outstanding property damage that you've accumulate so far wrecker." bulkhead let out a muttering retort that quickly changed into a yelp as the being next to him corrected his grammar with the business end of a wrench to the back of the head.

"I think we have bigger things to worry about right now then your ego bulkhead" stated the red and white mecha as it turned to look at their leader. "Wouldn't you agree Optimus?"

"Indeed my old friend." replied prime sombrely as he turned his attention back towards the waiting human.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to enjoy this" sighed the agent as he caught the worried glances' that were being passed around the little gathering.

"Regrettably you are correct agent Fowler." rumbled the giant as his face took on a serious tone. "It seems that for whatever reason during the last engagement Arcee's cover was compromised by a local human." to say that the agent was angry would have been an understatement, as little veins started bulging on the side of the man's head as he took on a particularly burgundy hue.

"Please tell me that you have the individual in custody." whispered Fowler as he ran a shaking hand across his face. "Just tell me that Prime, that's all I ask." the towering figure closed he's optics in regret.

"Unfortunately it seems that in the confusion the witness somehow managed to escape Arcee's safekeeping and at the moment is still at large, we assume somewhere within the city limits of Jasper." you could hear something snap inside the man's head as he let out a low groan as he shank down into a nearby seat .

"God damn it, what is wrong with my life today!" roared the agent as he pinched his eyes closed in frustration. "By Uncle Sam's beard I don't need this!" the room fell silent as everyone watched the scene unfold in front of them. "I've got enough shit of my own to deal with, I thought you lot were supposed to be professionals for crying out loud!"

"We are." Snarled the fembot as she locked eyes with the human.

"Really Arcee, really?" countered Fowler as he moved towards the safety railing. "Because it seems to me that if a normal person can just turn around and see a giant robot walking down the street then I think we have a slight problem."

"I was in disguise you aft." countered the titan as she took on a hostel stance. "Or are you questioning my judgment?"

"He may not be, but I'm thinking it rather loudly." stated an unseen speaker as a lone shadow stepped calm out into the lamp light. "Then again I'm rather biased because unlike a certain motorbike, I can actually do my job" added Jack as he jerked a thumb in Arcee's general direction, it didn't go down well as stunned surprise was quickly replaced with livid realization as the femme caught sight of the strangers face.

" _You_!" roared the autobot as she took a vengeful step towards the unwanted intruder, only to find herself being hastily restrained by two of her teammates.

"And I take it by your general demeanour and feminine voice that you're the bike in question?" countered the man as he cast a critical eye over the struggling figure. "I find myself rather unimpressed." the bot's left optic twitched dangerously as she allowed the comment to sink in, it was rather fortunate for everyone then that someone else decided to force their way into the discussion.

"Jack!?" the individual's name reverberated off the surrounding walls as the over human in the room finally recognized his colleagues voice.

"Ah Agent Fowler I presume." responded the man as he watched the rather chubby fellow come storming towards him.

"Don't you 'Fowler' me agent, where the hell have you been?" demanded the ex-ranger stopping a hairs breath from Jacks face.

"Exactly where I was expected to be." came the replied as he indicated towards the ground "Here."

"What?"

"I've been right here." repeated the man evenly. "For the last half hour; this was a intended destination correct?" a rather bemused Fowler ran a hand through his hair as he tried to make sense of the conversation.

"Yes but." he glanced unsurely around at the rest of equally disbelieving crowd. "What have you been doing all this time?"

"Having a look around, though the layout of the bunker is standard for the cold war era I was rather interested in seeing if the extraterrestrials had added anything remarkable to the complex" he stopped to look up at the towering giants above him. "I take it that you are extraterrestrial in nature correct?"

"Indeed" rumbled Optimus Prime as he quietly analyzed the situation. "And you must be the human that discovered Arcee earlier."

"I'd rather use the word 'noticed' rather than discovered, your female associate wasn't doing a particularly good job of remaining hidden."

"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped the fembot as she lent down to something approaching eye level.

"It means you made four noticeable mistakes in the time I was watching you back in Jasper." he raised a corresponding amount of digits into view as he continued talk "Do you want me to list them for you or should I just let you guess?"

"Oh scrap." whispered Bulkhead uneasily as he court the look spreading across his friends face. "This isn't going to go well."

"I don't mind Bulk" muttered Arcce coldly as she locked eyes with the human; or she attempted to, the fact that he was wearing sunglasses indoors was making it rather more complicated then she first imagined. "What's wrong with a bit of professional criticism anyway?" it was a loaded question and one the wrecker was smart enough to avoid.

"If you're sure Cee." stammered the hulking wrecker as he gingerly let go of her arm.

"I am." see turned her attention back towards the waiting figure.

"May I continue now?" snidely enquired the human as he crossed his arms impatiently "Or do you need more time to chat?"

"Please do." snarled the Autobot from in between her clenched teeth.

"That's enough Arcee!" the pair glanced around to find Optimus Prime glaring at them disapprovingly.

"But-" the statement was cut down with a single raised hand.

"This individual has quite clearly demonstrated that he has the professional ability to back up his statement, although" he eyed the human forcefully as he continued talking "I would appreciate it agent if you would refrain from antagonizing my second in command."

"Which you shouldn't be doing in the first place!" snapped Fowler heatedly as he finally managed to regain some control over the conversation.

"I take that this is the person that you told me about agent Fowler" added Optimus looked down at the liaison officer. "The one that was supposed to arrive with you earlier today?"

"'Supposed to' being the key phrase." muttered the man as he eyed the erstwhile colleague irritably. "I was meant to pick this guy up at headquarters over four hours ago but he never showed, next thing I know he's stomping around in your back yard." he jabbed an accusing finger at the unrepentant individual. "And I take it that little episode in town was your doing as well!" Jack raised his hands in blatant denial at the comment.

"That had nothing to do with me."

"Yer right and what about the dead con we found in that back ally?" Fowler turned around to steer resolutely at the titan above him. "You're doing I take it?" but the stilly confidence seemed to waver slightly as he court the look of confusion that darted across Arcee's face plate.

"I didn't offline anyone yesterday." stated the autobot firmly as she replayed the events over again in her mind. "And the only time I was in an ally was when..." the comment died away as everyone slowly turned to look at the lone figure in front of them.

"What?" countered the agent dismissively as he turn to walk away. "It was self-defense" the following silence was almost deafening as the man in question calmly looked at the array of computers set into one wall.

"That was you!" bellowed Fowler as his rather stunned expression turned red once more. "Do you have any idea long it takes to get energon out of brickwork, I had to demolish an entire building in the end due to the readings it was giving off!"

"And this is my problem why?" replied Jack disinterestedly as he tore his gaze away from a data feed.

"Because human." stated one of the robots rather testily "We are trying to keep as low a profile on this wretched planet as possible" the agent turned to look at the speaker.

"And you would be?" the red and white mech let out a sharp snort as the pair fixed each over with a cold steer.

"I'm Ratchet, autobots chief medical officer " stated the medic as he ran a scathing optic over the uninvited guest. "And I would prefer it if you didn't fiddle with technology that you obviously don't understand."

"Well if the tech was any good then I would." countered Jack as he kicked a nearby power cable. "But at this exacted moment it's all rather shit so I won't." the look on the doctor's face as he heard the comment was priceless; the whole moment would have been rather entertaining if not for the imposing wrenches being held rather tightly in one of the titan's massive hands. "Do you intend to use that?" added the man as he took on a more hostile air.

"Don't tempt me." muttered Ratchet as a split second later he felt a reassuring hand being placed on one shoulder.

"At ease old friend." stated Optimus reassuringly as he looked down at the defiant figure. "My apologies Agent..." the autobot paused ever so slightly as he realized that he hadn't been told the individual's name.

"Jack, Agent Jack" responded the man.

"My apologies Agent Jack, it seems we have as your people say 'gotten off on to a bad start' I would like to amend that."

"If that's what you want I don't mind" replied the human evenly. "But in all honesty I'm rather used to being hated." The remark didn't seem to sit well with the towering giant as an almost sad expression seemed to paint itself across the titans features.

"That may have well been the case in the past Agent Jack but I hope that your new assignment here, with us, will be on more amicable terms." rather understandably the room exploded into a torrent of disbelieving declarations as various individuals made their opinions known to world at large.

"Optimus you can't be serious" spluttered Arcee desperately as she forced her way towards the front of the bickering crowd. "This is a terrible idea!" the human raised a hand in whole hearted agreement.

"I second Pinkie's statement." added Jack as the pair exchanged piecing glares before turning their attention back towards the imposing figure, who was watching them quietly all the while.

"Well then you're both going to be royally disappointed." Said Fowler resolutely as he positioned himself next to his fellow agent. "The top brass want a human observer in the field with you at all times from now on and before you start!" countered the man as he blocked the impending firestorm that was rapidly developing. "I told them that it was totally suicidal and that they would never find someone competent enough to undertake such an assignment" Fowler paused for half a moment before continuing. "Next thing I know your personnel file is sent across my desk Jack and from the bits of it that I had security clearance to read lead me to asking for your transfer here to undertake this task."

"And though I reiterate my earlier statement that I will never deliberately risk human life." added Prime as he crossed his arms imposingly before continuing "I concede that having someone qualified to provide such assistance would prove invaluable in the future, so I agreed to Agents Fowlers suggestion to add Agent Jack to team prime" the giant glanced at the ex-ranger for half a moment. "As long as it sites well with him" stated the autobot firmly.

"I don't get much say in the matter to tell you the truth." countered the man as he stepped into the titans line of sit. "My bosses 'volunteered' me for this mission so until I hear otherwise you're stuck with" Jack grimaced. "My sympathies." the towering figure smiled slightly at the comment.

"I belief myself fortunate to have your assistance Agent Jack, I look forward to working together from now on." an audible groan could be heard escaping from several metal lips as they heard the statement, they weren't going to hear the end of this everyone thought; and they were right.

* * *

 **Thank you there much for reading, let me know if you found this enjoyable or just leave a review as it is a pure concept at the moment and I want to know what people think.**

 **gratefully.**

 **Gods-own**


	2. Chapter 2

**Rage against the night: Chapter 2**

As the lift vanished from view an almost unbearable silence descended on the unhappy gathering as Jack slowly turned to cast a cold glare over the assembled Autobots.

"Now that my colleague is out of the way let me get straight to the point, what are you hiding?" the harsh question raised a number of optic ridges from the accused.

"What are you implying?" countered Ratchet as he let out a disinterested snort.

"Do you want me to guess?" asked the man sharply as he folded his arms one over the other. "Fine I'll guess" he took a deep breath. "Judging from what I've seen your defiantly hiding two adolescent humans, both are not above the age of sixteen, the youngest of the pair isn't over the age of thirteen; stop me if this sounds familiar." the revelation was deafening as everyone look on in stunned silence.

"You are correct agent." replied Optimus as he wisely took control of the conversation "Agent Fowler thought it wise to hide the children's presence until after your appointment to the role."

"Of course he did" snarled the man as a scowl spread across his face. "I take it that he is aware that this in fact a top secret government installation and not a day care centre?"

"Finally someone agrees with me." snapped the medic as he turned his attention back towards his workstation.

"Well it was bound to happen eventually doc." countered Arcee as she smirked at the pairs obvious frustration.

"Which raises the question; why are they still here?" coldly enquired Jack as he leaved a piecing glare at towering autobot before him.

"Because the young humans are under our protection Jack, and as their protectors we have a responsibility to care for them."

"Are you suggesting that the American government is incapable of safe guarding its own citizens Prime?" the atmosphere turned cold at the accusation as the two figures squared off in a silent battle of wills.

"You and I both know that your leaders would not allow members of the public to witness our existence and remain within the general population." the agent let out a dismissive snort.

"Of course not; they would be a massive security risk; they would have to be relocated to a more secure location."

"And their families?" stated Optimus firmly as he locked stares with the unflinching human. "What of them?" the man shrugged at the question.

"I'm sure that something can be arranged" the subtle undertone was not missed by the towering automaton, whose gleaming features quickly morphed into one of grim understanding.

"It would seem Agent, that our opinions differ on certain key areas." rumbled the titan as he pulled himself up to his full height. "But I will reiterate my intention to protect the children from any kind of harm both alien and domestic." it was a clear statement of intent and one that was directly aimed at the agent, who shrugged it off with professional cynicism as he adjusted his sunglasses with a gloved index finger.

"Duly noted." came the comment as the individual turned his attention back towards the sizeable communications array set into the far wall. "Although you will understand I'll have to inform my superiors of these sudden developments." Jack turned his gaze back towards his imposing hosts. "If I may?" the Cybertronian nodded in agreement.

"Of course, Ratchet will you assist the Agent please?" the medic let out a quiet grumble but obeyed nonetheless as he escorted the waiting human over towards the waiting computer terminal, leaving the Prime alone in silent contemplation which was quickly interrupted by a silent request over the team link.

"Yes Arcee?"

"Can I have a word?" requested the fembot as she cast a pointed glare at the man's back. "In private."

"I think that would be for the best" silently commentated the team leader as he mentally readjusted the frequency. "Tell Bulkhead and Bee to join us, this debate effects them as well" the deputy raised a questioning eyebrow but carried out the instruction nonetheless

"Yes Optimus" stated the wrecker as he joined in on the conversation, quickly followed by Bumblebee who let out a steady chorus of low beeps and wines. "Yer you said it Bee what's this about?" the trio exchange questioning looks before glancing back towards their veteran leader.

"I believe that it is necessary to discuss some rather pressing issues," replied the towering figure as he took on a much harder expression. "Most pressing amongst them, Agent Jack." His lieutenant let out a disapproving snort as she heard the humans' name.

"What's there to discuss, he's a total aft." said the fembot as she fire off another cold glare at the distracted individual.

"Have to agree with Cee here boss, the guy really doesn't seem like a team player." Bumblebee bleeped in agreement as he pointed a metallic finger at the children who were milling about nearby.

"Bee's got a point Prime, he really didn't seem to like the idea of there being witnesses." Stated Arcee quietly as she replayed the conversation over in her head.

"I have noticed that myself." rumbled the autobot as he took on a resolute air. "I had hoped that the agent would not be as cold as his file indicated." a look of silent disappointment flashed across his face as he said this. "It seems that I was mistaken."

"What did his file say exactly?" enquired the second in command as she raised an optical ridge in interest.

"From the data that was made available to me I was able to deduce that the agent is someone who is extremely dedicated to completing his assignments, no matter the odds, and not matter what it took." the statement was meet with a low murmur from the rest of the team.

"That could be a problem" countered Bulkhead thoughtfully as he quickly snapped off a stair at the man in question. "I mean I'm all for a good fight, but there are times when you have to retreat."

"Indeed" stated prime as he turned his attention towards their young charges. "His files also indicated a certain willingness to conduct himself in a less than honourable fashion if it leads to the completion of his task." added the team leader grimly as the rest of the team quickly caught on to what was being hinted at.

"You think he would harm the children?" asked the fembot as her voice took on a harder edge.

"I could not say." replied Optimus firmly "Although I wouldn't put it past him if he thought they were jeopardizing what he considered his mission" Bumblebee let out a soft wine as he heard this.

"Yeah, I don't like it ether Bee." grumbled Bulkhead as he glared angrily at the distant figure. "But I take it that you're already came up with a plan if we're here talking about this?"

"Indeed" answered the prime "I have decided that until further notice that each of our young charges will be escorted and supervised at all times, Bulkhead you will accompany Miss Nakadai, Bumblebee your with Mr. Esquivel." the black and yellow bot let out a cheerful twit as he heard the order. "Though it warms my spark to see you getting along so well with our young friends we must be mindful of our responsibility towards the humans."

"Which is why we have to protect them from other humans." Snorted Arcee dismissively as she folded her arms over each over.

"Arcee" cautioned Optimus as he cast a disapproving look at his second in command, who remained defiant in the face of his criticism.

"What?" snapped the fembot irritably as she glared angrily at the little group. "All I'm saying is that we've got more important things to worry about then baby-sitting natives"

"That's enough Arcee!" the silent debate was shattered by their leaders thundering voice as he stamped his authority on the conversation. "We are all saddened by the loss of Cliffjumper." Stated the towering autobot with a note of regret as he placed a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder pad. "But we can't allow ourselves to give into hatred otherwise we are no better than those we fight." the slender bot dropped her head in quiet embarrassment.

"Sorry Optimus." the experienced commander just smiled as he heard the comment before turning his attention back towards their silent conversation as the pair returned to the team link.

"There is no need to apologize Arcee, we all understand how heavy the loss of a close friend can weigh upon a spark, though I must reiterate as I did with Bumblebee that you show restraint around your new partner."

"What!" the stunned statement reverberated of the surrounding walls as every occupant of the lofty space turned to look at the floored figure, who had the decency to look rather understandably embarrassed at the current situation as she slipped back into the secure communication channel.

"You have the most experience leading operations outside of myself Arcee, it was only to be expected that you would be partnered with your new ally to make sure that nothing goes wrong while on a mission" the titan raised a hand to silence the impended verbal assault that was heading his way. "And before you object let it be known that I came to this decision before the tragic events that took Cliffjumper from us." this revelation seemed to dampen the fire within the slender cybertronian. "Unfortunately due to recent developments I will have to request that you keep an eye on the agent to make sure that he doesn't do anything that could jeopardize our code as Autobots." Arcee nodded in grim understanding as she silently accepted the assignment.

"I do hope that these measures are unnecessary and Jack will decide to abide by our decision but I fear..."

"You fear that he won't." finished the fembot as she looked over at the human who was locked in heated conversation with a shadowy figure on the main screen.

"Not unless he's ordered not to by his superiors." Added Optimus as their yellow comrade let out a low whine.

"We'll take care of them, don't worry Bee." stated the wrecker confidently as he patted his smaller colleague on the back. "It's just a single human after all."

"A single human, who somehow managed to take down a decepticon single handedly." cautioned Arcee as she brought up the elephant in the room.

"Which is also deeply concerning." replied their leader thoughtfully as he glanced over at his second-in-command. "Estimations?"

"Seriously Optimus I got no idea." sighed the lieutenant in mild frustration as she replayed the events over once more in her command module. "I mean it was only a single drone but even so..." she left the sentence hanging in the air as the group thought the question over, which was quickly broken by Bee who let out a long blast of beeps and bleats to everyone at large.

"I realize that humans have managed to disable decepticon drones in the past Bumblebee, but they were always under the most desperate of circumstances and while using overwhelming numbers to their advantage." explained Prime as he turned to stare at Jacks back. "They have never to my personal knowledge been able to offline a Cybertronian in single combat."

"Maybe he had other people helping him." suggested Bulkhead cautiously as they attempted to figure out the situation.

"Doubtful" countered Arcee "Remember how angry Agent Fowler was when he found out, he fully expected us to be the ones responsible not his fellow human"

"Which would suggest that he is also unaware of Jacks abilities" commentated their leader.

"Ha that won't last" snorted the wrecker dismissively as he folded his servos over his chest plate. "That gasbag hates to be left in the dark, I bet you a week's energon ration that he's already on the phone trying to find out what the hell is going on." Bumblebee joined in on the conversation with a pointed whine as he glanced over at his young charge with increased concern.

"We will protect them with our lives Bumblebee, of that you have my word." rumbled Optimus resolutely as he fixed the young scout with an unwavering stare.

"I'm still curious about how he managed to down that lone drone" grumbled the fembot to no one in particular as she thought the question over. "From Fowlers description it sounds like he either severed a main fuel line or somehow ruptured the decepticon's primary pump."

"Both of which would require either training or technology that we have yet to see from our human allies." stated Prime thoughtfully.

"Maybe he just got lucky and managed to hit a weak spot." commentated the wrecker sceptically. "Or maybe the drone did something stupid like they always do and left itself wide open to attack"

"We can only hope" replied the towering Cybertronian grimly "The alternative would be deeply concerning."

"I don't know about you" muttered Arcee "But I don't like the idea of lone humans running around scrapping decepticon's on their own one bit" her fellow foot soldiers nodded in total agreement as they looked towards their experience leader for guidance.

"I have to agree with Arcee" stated the prime sombrely as he looked around at his gathered family. "The idea of humans having unrestricted access to such technology fills me with the deepest of concerns" the titan glanced over towards his second-in-command. "And as such I would ask of you Arcee to keep an optic open for any unusual abilities or technology that may explain the agents unexpected combat prowess"

"Understood Optimus." replied the Cybertronian firmly as she slipped back into her professional mindset, even as a regretful expression painted itself across the superiors face plate.

"I understand your discomfort Bumblebee." sadly commented the towering figure as he looked over towards his lead scout. "I am myself unhappy with the situation. But I cannot see any other way to proceed without putting ourselves and those that we've sworn to protect at risk." everyone nodded in grim agreement at the brutal honesty of the statement.

"Heads up" snapped Bulkhead out of the blue. "Looks like they've on their way over" and it was true as the two drastically different figures came striding over towards them.

"How did it go my old friend?" Quietly enquired Optimus as the teams chief medical officer reached them first, an unhappy expression welded tightly onto his paint work.

"Ask the native." muttered the medical expert disinterestedly as he came to a halt next his old comrade in arms. "I was just there to make sure that he didn't break anything." which he hadn't, much to the quiet concern of the tech expert, who had watched on in total silence as the infuriating human had manned the small side terminal that had been built into the main operation computer with almost textbook efficiency.

"Then I will, thank you." replied lofty figure politely as he looked over towards the rapidly approaching individual. "Agent Jack"

"Prime." countered the man coldly as he stared up at the towering individual with noticeable frustration. "I've just gotten off the line with the Director of National Intelligence back in Washington"

"Indeed, and how did he react to your announcement?" Questioned the autobot leader evenly as he quietly evaluated the newest member of his ground team with an experienced optic.

"They were already made aware of the situation by Agent Fowler" explained Jack as he pulled a pack of cigarettes of from a coat pocket. "And per your report passed on to them by the aforementioned agent they have come to the conclusion that at the present time the children in question are safest in your care until the alien threat is resolved. "

"And what about you, what are your orders regarding it?" Demanded Arcee sharply as she forced her way into the conversation.

"As per my instructions I am to treat Miss Nakadai and Mr. Esquivel as vital assets and to protect them both from any threat that should arise. _Any_ threat." answered the man pointedly as he cast a calculating stare over the assembled onlookers. "Is that explanation satisfactory for your needs or am I going to need another phone call?" an uncomfortable air descended upon the conversation as the Cybertronians quickly found themselves on the back foot at this sudden declaration.

"That will not be necessary, though I must enquire how you knew the children's identities?" stated Prime firmly as he locked his optics onto the man's face.

"It was in Fowlers' report, he always was a stickler for details." replied Jack dismissively as he continued the look of bland neutrality that had dominated his expressionless features. "If nothing else the man is thorough with this paperwork." he added approvingly.

"That is reassuring to know." rumbled Optimus as he stores this data away for a later date.

"I take it you've now been brought up to speed on the nature of you appointment" the human nodded as he took a deep drag of his cigarette.

"Indeed" he let the smoke cascade out of his mouth before continuing. "I've been given the bare bones of your current situation and what it is expected of me during the duration of this mission."

"Which are?" questioned the fembot suspiciously as she leant down to get a better look at her unwanted partner.

"My primary role is to make sure that you stay true to your side of the agreement set down between your faction and United States Government about the proportionate use of force, where I am expected to act to safeguard the wellbeing of my fellow humans, although I have been given considerable leeway in that particular department. If I believe it to be in the national interest that certain actions to be undertaken I have been given free rein to do so." the statement was meet with mixed reactions from several members of the ground team as they quickly turned to their leader for clarification.

"We would never undertake any action that would knowingly place human lives in danger." rumbled Optimus Prime unwaveringly as he glared down at the lone figure before him.

The agent nodded. "I have no doubts of that Prime."

"I expect the same thing from you Agent Jack during your time here with us" the declaration was clear for all to hear. "I will not permit any unnecessary loss of life for the sake of our mission, is that clear Agent?" it wasn't a request and both sides knew it.

"Of course, consider it a professional courtesy." replied the agent in question as he took on a chilly air "Is there anything else that I should be made aware of?" he added tersely.

"I have asked Arcee to act as you partner when out in the field to maintain team cohesion when on missions. When not in the field she will be your bodyguard and backup in a fight."

"If that is what you want" remarked the human coldly as he turned to walk away. "If that's everything Prime I have some personal belongings that Fowler dropped off on the top of the silo that I would like to secure if you don't mind"

"Go right ahead Jack." answered the towering figure "If anything happens we will contact you immediately." the man waved dismissively back over his shoulder in acknowledgement as he made his way back towards the waiting elevator.

"Well this is gonna be fun." whistled Bulkhead as the agent vanished from view.

"That would be a massive understatement." grumbled Ratchet as he turned to look at his old comrade. "We need to keep an eye on him Optimus, I don't like him."

"Why do you say that my old friend?" Questioned the team leader as he raised a questioning optical brow at the statement.

"Well for a start I was originally concerned that he was going to break something when you let him use our communications systems." muttered the medic as he snapped of a sharp glare at his superior. "Which I'm still not happy about by the way."

"And I take it that he didn't." replied their leader thoughtfully as he slipped into silent contemplation.

"He didn't, which is a good thing. Our systems already need a lot of maintenance as it is." answered the medical expert.

"Then what's the problem?" Interrupted the wrecker as his fellow bot let out a series of high pitched bleeps in mild confusion.

"Because Bulkhead, Bumblebee, even though our primary command terminal is made with less than desirable components I still programmed it using Cybertronian operating system schematics so that it would be easier for us to use." the titan glanced back towards the vacant spot that once housed the empty elevator. "So unless the dear agent is a computer genius, which I highly doubt, then he should have struggled somewhat without assistance from myself." the others rolled their optics at the obvious ego of their arrogant teammate.

"So he bruised your ego, what's wrong with that?" snorted Arcee sarcastically as she poked fun at her older comrade.

"It means..."

"It means." interrupted Optimus as he took control of the conversation. "That Jack has experience using Cybertronian technology which, given his seeming ability to deal with the decepticon drones, makes him a greater threat than we originally anticipated."

"It gets worse." added the tech expert grimly as he pulled out a portable scanner that he used to check for internal damage in patients. "I tried to run a discreet scan to check for anything out of the ordinary."

"And I take it that you found something." commented the fembot with noticeable interest.

"The exact opposite actually," came the dour response as the medic held up the scanner for everyone to see. "He's completely shielded; I couldn't get a single result from any of my scan attempts." a look of exasperation spread itself thick across the old medics' faceplate.

"I suspect that it has something to do with that piece of clothing that the human is wearing."

"You mean his trench coat?" added Arcee in mild sarcasm as she earned herself a few hidden grins from her fellow younger cohorts.

"His 'trench coat' thank you" muttered Ratchet as he shot the second-in-command a disapproving glare. "I suspect that it is somehow masking his life signs, rendering him invisible to our scans as well as our inbuilt targeting systems."

"So we would need to have an actual visual confirmation to find him?" Enquired the fembot seriously.

"I suspect so, but I would need to run a few test to see if there were any frequencies that we could use to detect him with."

"I think that would be for the best" rumbled Optimus in an authoritative tone as he looked over towards Bulkhead in contemplation. "Thou it would explain how he was able to both evade Acree as well as deal with the lone drone" stated the titan thoughtfully.

"Yes it would" mumbled the wrecker in realization "And given how those guys aren't the sharpest circuits in the system it would have probably given him a pretty decent edge in combat, combined with whatever weapons tech he's using, we'll really need to keep an eye on him from now on"

"Agreed" Stated Prime as he seemingly came to some kind of conclusion on the matter which was quickly forgotten as an alarm started blaring out of the silos internal speaker systems.

"Trouble." muttered the wrecker uneasily as they gathered around the command terminal.

"Blasted earth tech." stated Ratchet as his servos dance across the holographic display, until his limbs came to an abrupt halt. "That's not possible." he whispered as he glanced up at the main display in disbelief.

"What it is Ratchet?" questioned Optimus steadily as he came to a rest by the medics' side.

"It's Cliffjumper, his transponder just came back online."

* * *

 **Well here is the next chapter folks, hope you liked it, let me know what you think, all reviews are welcome as long as their constructive.**

 **Big shout-out to my proof reader Darth Azrael for working on this, deeply grateful for his help.**

 **Gods-own.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 3**

As these waves of startled disbelief washed through those unfortunate souls below him, a lonely figure sat perched high atop the rocky outcrop that made up the silos exterior, revelling in the brief moment of pleasant isolation as he took a long drag on his glowing cigarette before wafting the smoke out over a barren landscape deeply submerged in the suns early glow; it was not to last as there came a vibration from his coat pocket as his phone notified him of an incoming call.

"I really need to remember to turn that thing down" muttered the man as he pulled the object up to one ear. "What do you need?" he questioned knowing already who was going to be on the other end.

"Agent Jack, we require your presence back down in the command room as soon as possible." instructed the disembodied voice of Optimus Prime over the secure line.

"What's the situation?" sharply enquired the listener as he grabbed a couple of important items with an empty hand.

"Everything will be explained when you arrive." came the authoritative response as the lone human made a beeline towards the waiting elevator, which quickly trundled back down into the dark heart of the mountain.

"I take it that something's happened." stated the agent professionally as he walked out into a churning sea of activity.

"Indeed" replied Optimus grimly as he glanced away from his fellow cybertronians who were gathered around the glowering green display. "It seems that a fellow member of our team, whom we thought was dead, has reappeared on our scans." explained the titan as he turned back towards his gathered subordinates, how were already gnashing on the bit to be gone. "We intended to rescue him" Jack frowned as he heard this and it didn't go unnoticed by several members of the Autobots, who turned to glare at him coldly.

"Is that a problem fleshy?" demanded Bulkhead sharply as Arcee took a threatening step towards the small figure.

"Something's not adding up." countered the agent as he drew in the attention of the assembled onlookers. "I find it all a bit suspicious that a recently terminated signal should suddenly start transmitting again." he looked over towards the chief medic for confirmation. "Unless that is something that your kind can do as a defence mechanism?"

"Unfortunately not." replied Ratchet sadly "And Cliffjumper didn't have any modifications that would have allowed him to mask his life signs."

"Which pretty much guarantees that it's probably going to be a trap." argued the observer critically.

"Or it could be faulty human technology." countered the tech expert pointedly as he took on an arrogant air.

"That just so happens to fail at this exacted moment?" snapped Jack sceptically "You can't be that naïve."

"It doesn't matter if it's a trap." interrupted Acree as she forced her way into the conversation. "If there is any chance that Cliffs alive I'm going after him." the agent let out a resigned sigh as he ran a hand through his short cropped hair.

"Fine, I'll get my gear and we'll roll out." muttered the man as he backtracked towards the pile equipment that he'd dumped nearby.

"I cannot agree to that Jack." stated Optimus seriously as he looked down at the lone individual in front of him. "We have no knowledge of what we will be facing once we reach the target location, it would be extremely irresponsible of me to allow you to accompany us." the remark was meet with bored disinterest from the man as he pulled a massive, by human standards, bolt action rifle out of its weapons case.

"Nice gun, for a slug thrower." commented Bulkhead appreciatively as he stared at the matte black finish with a questioning gaze.

"You've got a good eye for quality." replied Jack steadily as he ran a gloved hand down one side of the firearm "This is a specially customized Anzio twenty millimetre anti-material rifle." he pointed a finger at the business end of the weapon "With a heavily cut down barrel for greater flexibility in the field"

"Isn't that weapon a bit large for you?" questioned Ratchet mockingly as he made his way over toward a set of controls set into the far wall.

"The main body of the rifle is made from a superlight alloy, cuts the weight of the weapon in half." countered Jack coldly as he slapped a brick thick magazine into the waiting slot. "So you have nothing to worry your big ol' shiny head over." The medic muttered something unbecoming under his breath as he started fiddling with the waiting mechanism in exasperation.

"Just let him come." snapped Arcee sharply as she stomped over towards some kind of archway that dominated the opposite end of the silo. "If he wants to get himself killed, then who are we to argue." she added coldly as she fixed Jack with an icy glare. "Just stay the hell out of my way."

"My pleasure," muttered the agent dismissively as he swung his ammunition pack over his shoulder. "looks like I'm riding with you big guy "

"Sure thing" replied the wrecker uneasily as he turned to glance at his team leader for clarification.

"I think it would be for the best Bulkhead." stated Optimus firmly as he cast a concerned optic towards his second-in-command.

"Coordinates have been punched in, ground bridge is good to go." stated Ratchet as a green swirling vortex of energy roared into life in front of them.

"Ready agent?" Enquired Prime as he glanced down at the newest member of his team.

"I'm always ready." countered the human as he clambered into the open cargo area in the back of the newly transformed green SUV.

"Uh, don't you want to travel in the cab?" stated Bulkheads voice questioningly as he watched his unwanted passenger settled himself down for the ride.

"I'll be fine, besides this allows me to relocate quicker once we get there." replied Jack as he quickly glanced over towards a seemingly sealed door tucked away in a corner of the room.

"And for future reference" he raised his voice until it echoed of the walls. "If I find a single piece of my equipment missing or disturbed when I get back I will prosecute you to the full extent of the law Miss Nakadai." there was an audible squeal of shock at the statement as the heavy looking access hatch was suddenly slammed shut.

"Knew they were there the whole time didn't you?" muttered the autobot quietly as they rolled towards the glowing portal.

"As soon as I stepped out of the elevator" Stated the passenger distractedly as he cast a silent stare towards the fidgeting fembot next to them.

"That's good to know." grumbled the wrecker as Optimus Prime came stomping past, stoic resolution set firmly onto his faceplate.

"Autobots rollout!" bellowed the titan as it transformed into a semi-truck before vanishing into the swirling gateway

"Does he always do that?" Enquired Jack as the rest of them set off in hot pursuit.

"You could say it's his war cry." chuckled the SUV as they dived in after him.

* * *

As soon as it had started it was over as the strike team quickly found themselves in some kind of underground cavern that definitely wasn't natural.

"Energon mine." stated Bulkhead as he cast a suspicious optic at his immediate surroundings.

"And judging by its scale the decepticons have been tunnelling here for quite some time." Added Prime appraisingly before he realized something was off. "Bulkhead, where is Jack?" demanded the cybertronian as he glanced over towards his newly transformed associate.

"He should be around here somewhere Optimus." replied the wrecker as he looked around for the wayward individual "The guy hopped out as soon as we touched down, he can't have gone far"

"I'm right here." stated the human as he came strolling out of the gloom, weapon resting lightly on his right shoulder. "Thought it might be a smart idea to get out the way in case the miners decide to come back through."

"That is reassuring to know Agent, though I would appreciate it in the future if you would notify one of us of your intentions before undertaking them, in order to keep team cohesion."

"Fair enough, no promises though." countered Jack as he fell in behind the main group as they made their way deeper into the excavation site.

"We've got drones incoming." stated Arcee quietly from up ahead as she ducked behind a large stack of crates.

"Alright let's find Cliffjumper." ordered the autobot leader as he strode out to meet the enemy.

"So much for the element of surprise." unhappily muttered the agent as he dived behind cover as the enemy foot soldiers took notice of their presence.

"Surprise is overrated." chuckled Bulkhead as he thundered past the human.

"I have yet to see otherwise." countered the figure coldly as he lent back out from behind his hiding place to send a well place round hammering down range into a waiting drones spark chamber, sending energon and shattered casing splattering throughout the surrounding landscape as the unfortunate assailant toppled backwards into a broken heap on the cavern floor.

"Agent, remain behind us as we clear a way through." ordered Optimus as he slammed a combat blade clean through an attackers faceplate coating his upper servo in glowing blue liquid.

"I'm fine, focus on the objective!" snapped Jack as he caught sight of his erstwhile companion ripping off another's head with a well-placed kick.

"See he can look after himself." stated Arcee distractedly as she ducked under a poorly timed punch before launching a counter-attack of her own that sent the purple opponent slamming into the bedrock with sickening force. "We need to focus our attentions on finding Cliff!"

"Pinky has a point Prime." shouted the human over the roar of battle. "The longer we take here the longer the decepticons have to get organized." the autobot leader nodded in grim understanding as he turned his attention back towards a second group of enemies that were already bearing down upon their position.

"So be it, autobots maximum overdrive!" the order was carried out with lightning precision as the rest of the team made a mad dash towards the advancing reinforcements, who were caught totally by surprise by the sudden shift in momentum as the hardened veterans bore down upon them.

"You think the human is going to be okay back there?" questioned Bulkhead as he crushed yet another con under his wrecking ball; Bumblebee let out a confident trail of bleeps as he jerked a servo over his shoulder pad.

"What do you mean he's riding on your back!" demanded Arcee in confusion, which quickly morphed into one of disbelief as the second in command caught sight of the lone man clinging to the back of his lead scout with steely determination.

"Are you alright Agent?" questioned Optimus as he quickly finished off the last of his opponents with an expert slash of his blades.

"I'm fine, keep moving." replied Jack as he looked around at the carnage "We're wasting time."

"Understood." rumbled Prime as indicated for the rest of them to fall in behind him as they headed off deeper into the subterranean depths.

"We should be getting closer to the main dig site." commented the wrecker as he took notice of their general surroundings.

"It would seem likely." stated their leader as he picked up on the improving light levels as they drew closer to source of Cliffjumpers life signature. "This could be a trap, so remain on high alert."

"Understood." answered Arcee as she cast a searching glance for any sign of her missing comrade in arms.

"Coming up on the main chamber." alerted Bulkhead over the com-link as he gazed ahead at some point off in the distance.

"Stay focused, they probably know we've arrived." instructed Optimus as we slowly advanced towards the centre of the complex.

"What was your first clue?" muttered the agent sharply from his perilous position on the back of yellow mech. "Because my money was on the moment that you threw stealth out the bloody window and went in guns blazing." Bumblebee let out a low whine as he glanced over his shoulder pad at his passenger.

"It's alright Bumblebee, Agent Jack has a valid point, there is an argument to be made for a more cautious approach, one I failed to truly consider." countered the towering figure as he turned to look at the youngest member of his team reassuringly. "But now is not the time for such discussion." added the Prime forcefully as he returned to the task at hand

"Am I clear Agent?"

"You're the boss." replied the man coldly as they finally reached the source of the suspicious transponder signal, which turned out to be as massive shaft that seemed to been drilled straight down through the heart of the mountain.

"Looks like the primary loading area," whispered Arcee as the rest of them quietly slipped into the gigantic space. "See that grav lift, I would bet my spark chamber that it leads into the Nemesis' main cargo bay." the scout bleeped pointedly as he noticed the sudden silence that had descended all around them.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." muttered the agent darkly as he slowly manoeuvred himself into a better position nearby, which quickly proved to be the correct course of action as all hell broke loose around them, every drone in sight firing on their position.

"Get to cover!" ordered Optimus as he began returning fire with pinpoint accuracy.

"We're working on it!" countered the Wrecker loudly as he blasted an unfortunate assailant off its feet with a well-placed shot from his hand cannon.

"Watch your six!" snapped Jack as he decapitated an attacker who had been sneaking up on them with a headshot.

"Nice shot" commented the Wrecker as he court site of the headless body toppling lifelessly onto the cave floor. "That thing really packs a punch huh" he added as he kept one optic on the matter black weapon that was being wielded expertly by the human in question.

"Twenty millimeter custom armour penetrating rounds, when I shoot something it doesn't get up again." stated the agent as he picked off yet another assailant with a well-placed body shot that sent shrapnel hurtling out in all directions as the dead drone toppled back out of sight one level up.

"I've got a visual on Cliff!" Suddenly stated Arcee over the intercom as the second-in-command caught site of the motionless form two floors above.

"We'll cover you, go!" answered Optimus as the rest of them began laying down as much suppressing fire as they were able.

"The package is nonresponsive Prime, are you sure that was a good idea?" yelled Jack over the deafening crescendo as he quickly tour his gaze away from the speeding motorcycle to focus on the red and blue giant that towered above him.

"Maybe not, but Acree is the most agile out of all of us, if anyone can reach Cliffjumper intact and retrieve him, it's her." explained the imposing individual as he turned his attention towards the few decepticons who had shifted their fire towards the sprinting fembot.

"She nimble if nothing else." stated the human as he watch the pink and blue autobot gracefully weave a path through the outer lays of the elevator as she made a beeline toward her fallen comrade.

"She was one of our best infiltrators during the war on Cybertron." muttered the Wrecker distractedly as he slammed a fist into the faceplate of an attacker that strayed too close. "If you wanted to know what the enemy was hiding you sent in the lieutenant." he let out a soft chuckle as he remembered something. "I recall this one time when-" but the reminiscence was cut short as there came a guttural roar that echoed over the surrounding walls.

"That didn't sound promising." stated Prime as he glanced upwards just in time to catch site of something deeply disturbing playing out before his optics.

* * *

"Cliff, Cliff get a hold of yourself!" shout Arcee desperately as she frantically attempted to fend off her frenzied partner as he attempted for a second time to take a massive bit out of her primary fuel line that ran the length of her neck. "Cliffjumper please."

"Arcee what in Primus' name is going on up there!" demanded Optimus Prime sharply as his voice came thundering out over her audio receptors.

"Something's seriously wrong with Cliff, he gone completely feral!" replied the cybertronian in desperation as she tried to detach herself from the crazed autobot, with little to no success as she felt his strangely glowing servo wrap itself tightly around her throat and begin to squeeze. "Please stop!" Pleaded the fembot as she began slamming her clenched hands into the disturbed mech's faceplate sending streams of purple goo splattering out in all directions as her strikes hit home, but with ever-increasing alarm the individual realised that they were having little to no impact whatsoever as she felt the metal on her throat starting to buckle under the strain. "Please" but the words fell on deaf receptors as the ghoulish apparition opened its mouth to finish what it started; but it never came to pass as a twenty millimeter round hammered into Cliffjumpers neck, shattering his head and scattering a thick layer of fluid over the stunned onlooker.

"We have to move!" barked Jack as he yanked the scope away from his sunglasses just in time to catch the mocking tones of a certain slender looking decepticon that materialized into view halfway up the elevator shaft.

"Prime!" the voice echoed down towards them as the rest of the infiltration team focused their attentions towards the new threat. "I'd stick around but I'm squeamish." it didn't take long to catch his meaning, as a few moments later something was sent hurtling downwards from up on high and it look awfully familiar.

"Satchel charge!" bellowed Bulkhead as he court site of the device as it embedded itself in to a nearby energon outcrop. "This place is going to blow!"

"Emergency evac, right now!" snarled the agent as he let off a parting shot the fleeing aggressor as it morphed into a fighter jet and rocketed out of site.

"Autobots roll out!" the order didn't need to said twice as the gathered cybertronians hastily transformed and beat a rapid retreat back the way they'd came, without a second to lose as the explosive set of a massive chain reaction that was quickly bearing down upon them at a terrifying pace.

"We're not going to outrun it much longer!" stated Jack from his position in the back of the SUV.

"We'll make it." stated the Wrecker as they heard Prime barking instructions over the com-link. "Ratchet hasn't let us down yet."

"Not reassuring." countered the human as a split second later there came the tell-tale sound of warping space-time reality as the ground bridge thundered into existence.

"Hang on this is going to be close!" grunted the green autobot as they barrelled into the swirling vortex before being rudely deposited out the other side.

"We've got incoming!" bellowed Jack as he watched the fire ball race down the wormhole towards them.

"I'm working on it!" countered the medical expert distractedly as he waited until the last possible moment to make sure that everyone was clear before flipping the cut of switch just in the nick of time. "Cutting it a bit close aren't you?" Commented Ratchet as he turned away from the control panel. "Where's Cliffjumper?" he added worriedly as he notched the obvious absence of their teammate.

"I killed him." stated Jack coldly as he came walking over, rifle held loosely in his arms.

"You did what!" thundered the medic as he took a threatening step towards the human.

"My primary mission is to safeguard all vital assets of this operation." countered the agent pointedly as he turned to exchange stares with the femme, who at that exact moment was trying to seemingly burn holes through his head with the sheer force of her glare alone. "That goes double for you lot" he added as he tore his gaze away from the emotional figure to find himself the centre of attention. "Because as you so often put it Prime you are our best hope for the survival of the human race." the declaration was met with stunned shock from the onlookers as they drank in what was being said to them. "So when one of you is about to get killed I tend to take action." added Jack as he brought his weapon to bear on the startled fembot. "Which is what I'm doing now." added the human

"What are you...?" but the question was cut short as there came an all too familiar sound as the agent chambered a live round.

"Back away from the rest of the autobots, now." Demanded the man as he carefully manoeuvred into a better firing position.

"Agent I don't...?"

"I SAID BACK THE FUCK AWAY!" roared the human "I WON'T ASK AGAIN!"

"Do what he says Arcee." instructed Optimus as he remained fixed on the lone figure below him. "I'm sure everything will be fine." his second in command shoot him a confused look before moving a few dozen meters away from the rest of them.

"Good, the rest of you stay exactly where you are." snapped Jack as he tour himself away from the by now openly fuming fem as he locked glares with the Ratchet. "Do you have hazmat protocols?" he demanded sharply, much to the confused irritation of the mech in question.

"Of course." stated the medic in angry frustration.

"The implement them." stated Jack coldly as he turned back towards the femme in question, who was not looking to happy at all with her current situation. "Right now."

"Agent Jack?" question Optimus as he took a careful step towards the human. "What exactly seems to be the problem?"

"Your second-in-command is contaminated with a hazardous substance and I'm not taking any chances" explained the agent as he stayed focused on the fembot. "Do not interfere, this is for your own good." He added as the rest of the group turned to look at Arcee.

"Is this true Arcee?" Enquired the red and blue titan as he took on a concerned air.

"Well yes but I don't see..." but her argument was seriously undermined as she suddenly staggered to one side as she desperately attempted to keep herself standing.

"No one touch her!" Hastily stated the chief medical officer as he quickly positioned himself in between the struggling figure and the rest of Team Prime. "She could be infectious." he glanced down at the human as he said this. "I take it by your current demeanour that you've seen the possible symptoms linked with this substance?" added the doctor pointedly as he took note that the agent had yet to lower his weapon.

"If you mean by trying to rip out your partner's throat with your teeth as a symptom then yes." countered Jack as he court Optimus Prime gaze with his own. "I would strongly recommend that until the good doctor can guarantee that your lieutenant won't pose a risk to any of us that she remains quarantined."

"There is no need for that agent." muttered Ratchet as he pulled out his personal scanner.

"Arcee I need to run a few tests on this substance, go take a decontamination bath right now." his tone allowed no discussion as he fixed his teammate with a professional stare.

"Whatever you say doc." muttered the femme tiredly as she was helped over towards some kind of see-through chamber by an ever helpful Bumblebee.

"I have reservations about this Prime." commented the agent as he glanced up at the cybertronian.

"Your dedication to safeguarding our mission is admirable Jack, but at this moment I would ask that you have faith in Ratchet's skills as a doctor." stated Optimus reassuringly as he glanced down at the human. "Can you do that for me?" the human grimaced silently at the request but nodded in understanding as he turned to walk away.

"If you need me I'll be checking my equipment." He muttered as he vanished out of site.

"That was unexpected." grumbled the medic distractedly as he remained focused on the task at hand. "I thought for certain that he would kick up more of a fuss."

"It would seem there is more to Agent Jack then meets the eye." replied the veteran sagely.

"And that's what worries me." grumbled Ratchet softly.

* * *

 **Here you go folks, hope you liked it, big shout out to my proofreader** **Darth Azrael for getting this done so fast. **

**Please leave the review or comment, it is really heart warming to get feed back.**

 **This my last post of the year, so I wise all of you a happy hoilday.**

 **Sincerely Gods-own.**

 **P.S My new story is up, if your a fan of Mass Effect and Asura's Wrath or just looking for a good story check out The Legacy of Wrath, please read and review if you do, it will mean a lot.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 4**

"I told them" muttered the agent as he stomped through the desert. "I told them not to touch my stuff, but did they listen, no of course not." Jack paused in mid rant as he adjusted his grip on the on the large cloth sack that was being dragged behind him. "I can't be held responsible for my actions." The man looked around to get his bearings "Now where did I leave that hole?" he'd forgotten how annoying it was trying to find a meter square spot, at night, in the middle of Nevada desert. "I really need to find somewhere easier to dump bodies" grumbled the figure as he pulled a bloody handkerchief from a coat pocket and wiped his brow. "Because dragging your fat ass all the way out here is killing my back." the moist sack remained silent to the statement as the man returned to the task at hand. "Well It could be worse I suppose" added Jack evenly as he vanished into the moonless night "It could be me."

* * *

 _ **A FEW DAYS EARLIER**_

Two weeks had passed since the botched rescue attempt and the atmosphere within the base had yet to return to what could be called pleasant levels; the matter wasn't helped by Miss Nakadai's repeated attempts to gain access to the improvised weapons locker that had once been a janitors supply closet, case in point as both agents found themselves once again sitting across from said teenager in question, who at least had the dignity to look embarrassed.

"Kid, how many times do we have to tell you, the stuff in that room is extremely dangerous, stop trying to get in there!" demanded Agent Fowler tiredly as he ran a hand through is short cropped hair cut. "Why are you so interested in getting in there anyway?"

"Ah come on, you're telling me that you wouldn't want to have a look at all the cool spy stuff that Jack brought with him?" countered Miko pointedly as she glanced over at the imposing figure on the over side of the table. "Please I won't touch anything."

"Not going to happen kid, not now, not ever." replied the adult as he readjusted his sunglasses in irritation. "And while we're on the topic; stop borrowing Ratchets tools he's getting rather paranoid." added Jack pointedly as he took on an unhappy air, the good doctor had taken to guarding his repair tools jealously and had even gone so far as to threaten physical harm on anyone that dared to get near his workstation.

"But I put them back after." argued the teenager weakly as she attempted to defend her position.

"That's not the point." Jack said calmly as he leaned across the table to glare at the exchange student. "The point is I'm sick and tired of being blamed for every misplaced nut and bolt, EVEN IF THEY'RE COMPLETE GARBAGE!" bellowed the human over his shoulder.

"I HEARD THAT!" responded the medic angrily from where he was work on the ground bridge.

"WHY DO YOU THINK I SAID IT!" retorted Jack as he turned his attention back to the conversation. "Also for future reference a laser cutter will set off explosives, including gunpowder so next time you decide to cut your way into my equipment locker keep that in mind." added the agent as his relatively limited patience finally ran its course. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got better things to do than chew out children." muttered Jack as he turned to leave

"Knock yourself out." snorted Fowler, the pair had been on rather chilly ground with one another after the former had managed to get himself kidnapped by the enemy while in transit, leading to a rather frantic rescue attempt by the cybertronian elements of the team and even with the successful nature of the mission, Jack had been less then pleasant with his choice of words when it came to describing his own personal opinion of the screw up.

"Jack." the agent glanced up from his quiet contemplation as he heard his name being said.

"Yes Prime?" the lumbering form of Optimus Prime came into view as the titan made his way into the main chamber.

"May I have a word?" the human let out a tired sigh as he made his way over to the side of the raised platform.

"Why not?" stated the human disinterestedly "Everyone else seems to want to." the towering figure paused slightly before continuing.

"Then I will be as quick as I can, you enquired about the nature of dark energon after we discovered evidence of its existence onboard the Nemesis." said revelation had been met with almost unified disbelief from the gathered Autobots, with the noticeable exception of Prime, who'd turned oddly silent at the news. "A simple explanation is that it is a more unstable form of the life giving energy source found on our home world." stated Optimus evenly as he indicated towards several large blocks of glowing blue fluid that dominated Ratchets workbench. "Though it had some over more "unusual" characteristics not normally found in regular energon."

"I think I figured that out the hard." muttered Jack jokingly, he'd found out about the rather unusual aspects of fluid rather intimately when a sample of the weird goo that had been coating Arcee had brought a disassembled arm to life and he'd been forced to bludgeon it to death using a fire extinguisher when it had attacked him.

"At least it would explain Cliffjumpers strange behaviour." commentated Prime evenly as they walked over towards the main computer. "It is also worth noting that Ratchet is certain that there is no risk of contamination in the case of Arcee."

"At least that's something." stated the agent grimly, it was bad enough that he'd already lost a valuable asset, and he was not going to lose another one if he could help it. "I take it that you're telling me this because you want me to start going on missions with her in the near future?"

"You are correct." replied the bot "I believe it would help both of you function more efficiently if the two of you went on some low level assignments together."

"If that's what you want." replied the man coldly as he took on a professional air, something that wasn't missed by Prime.

"I promise you that Arcee will act in a professional manner Agent." stated the Autobot "As long as you do." it had become painfully apparent to everyone involved that the pair had a rather fraught working relationship, one that had not been improved by him pointing a weapon at her.

"Your version of professionalism and my version seem to be two different things Prime." countered Jack pointedly as he pulled a packet of cigarettes out of a coat pocket. "But for the sake of mission I'll play along."

"Much appreciated Jack." the duos attention was quickly distracted by the meaty roar of V-8 engine as a black and yellow Camaro came trundling into the silo.

"And where have you been?" demanded Ratchet irritably has he turned away from his allotted task. "You were supposed to be back here several hours ago." the scout let out a happy whine as the young boy exited the vehicle.

"You went to a fast food outlet?" commented Arcee as she came walking up from the lower level "That can't be healthy." the cheerful mech let out a mocking bleat as he transformed into his true form. "Hay lead sulphide crystals don't count as junk food; they are part of a well-balanced intake I'll have you know."

"My aft they are!" snapped the medic as he glared at the two bots "Those things rust your inner workings, don't let me catch you two ingesting that junk!"

"Well we can't, we ran out months ago." grumbled the fem unhappily much to the clear dejection of most of her fellow Autobots.

"You do realize that we have tons of the stuff right?" questioned Raf, much to the obvious displeasure of a certain medic.

"What seriously?" spluttered Bulkhead.

"One of the most common sulphide minerals on earth." added Jack evenly as he took silent pleasure in Ratchets irritation.

"Well that's just great, now I'm going to have to keep any optic on these three." he jabbed a servo at the younger cybertronians. "To make sure that they don't give themselves cavities."

"How can robots get cavities, do you even have teeth?" questioned Miko as she joined in on the conversation.

"Uh, wrong kind of cavity Miko" corrected the Wrecker as he glanced down at his young charge. "But we can get something similar if we too much lead sulphide, eats into our insides."

"That sounds pretty gross." stated the teenager disgustedly as she clambered down to the ground floor. "But hay at least it's better than anything that they serve you at KO Burger" she jokingly added as she court site of the empty paper bag half sticking out of Raf's backpack

"My parents don't really let us eat at fast food joints that often." chuckled the young boy nervously as he dug around in a trouser pocket "Plus they were giving away free Munchables with every purchase!" the child held up a weird little creature on the end of a keychain.

"Is that Coco? I've never seen that one!" declared the girl excitedly as she allowed her inner geek to take control. "They're supposed to be super rare."

"They are." replied her friend as he took on a happy air, which quickly vanished as a gloved hand calmly reached over his shoulder and snatched it out from in between his fingers.

"Hay give that back!" demanded an angry Miko as she desperately attempted to rescue the lost collectable to no avail.

"Not going to happen." stated Jack disinterestedly as he glanced from the toy to the young genius directly in front of him. "You said that you got this from a local burger joint, you normally go there?"

"From time to time" spluttered the kid as he desperately tried to retrieve his prize which was cruelly yanked out of his reach. "Please give it back."

"You recognize the employee that gave this to you?" questioned the agent uncaringly as he completely ignored the looks of annoyance that were painted across the autobots faceplates.

"I think so." spluttered Raf uncertainly as he dared meet the adults hidden gaze. "I've only seen her there in the last week so she could be new." he glanced over towards his towering guardian, who at that exact moment was trying to burn holes through the infuriating humans thick head before looking back at Jack "Can I have my Munchable back now?" the man snorted coldly as he pocketed the cherished object.

"Let this be a lesson for you Mr. Esquivel, if you truly treasure something then you should protect it with your life." stated the man as he glared up at the black and yellow scout. "A skill which seems to be lost on some people." he snapped as he turned on his heel and marched off deeper into the facility.

"That guys a fucking aft." muttered Bulkhead angrily as he quickly pulled his optics away from the crying child to stare forcefully at the fembot standing next to him.

"What?" snapped Arcee as she court her friends expression. "I didn't have anything to do with this."

"He's your partner Cee, deal with it!" countered the wrecker as he was backed up by an angry bleep from Bumblebee as he glared up at his superior from where he knelt by his young charge.

"I didn't do anything!" countered the fem as she returned the glare with interest. "I can't be held responsible for every scraping thing that he does."

"Enough, the three of you." rumbled Optimus Prime as he looked down sadly at the unhappy human at his feet. "We have more important things then attributing blame at this exact moment." he added as he quietly knelt down until he was nearly at head height with the young boy. "I apologise for Agent Jacks behaviour Rafael, I'm sure that Bumblebee well be more than happy to make it up to you." the scout nodded reassuringly as he carefully lifted up the small individual in one hand.

"Can we play computer games?" whispered the child.

"As much as you like." replied Optimus as a small smile played across his faceplate, which quickly vanished from view as the pair, who were being accompanied by a persistently positive Miko retreated to the raised platform on the over side of the room. "I believe that Arcee and I need to have a quiet talk with Jack." stated the cybertronian determinedly as he cast a force look at his second-in-command.

"What's there to talk about, that guy is a complete and utter glitch!" spat Bulkhead irritably as the four remaining autobots switch to a secure channel.

"I highly doubt that." snorted Ratchet as he joined in on the conversation.

"Why do you say that old friend?" Enquired their team leader as he looked over towards the chief medic.

"Because he isn't someone who acts rashly, everything that Jack does is aimed at completing a particular goal or objective." The fem raised a sceptical optic ridge.

"And what was the goal this time, steal a child's toy?" the medic let out an audible huff at the comment.

"Hardly."

"Then we should find out what his motivations are." added Optimus as he turned thoughtful. "If the toys are dangerous in some way we should be on the lookout for them in the future."

"He was awfully insistent in keeping it away from the kids now that I think about it." muttered Bulkhead quarterly as he quickly replayed the moments over in his command module.

"He can't have gone far, hold on I'll go and find him." commented Acree forcefully as she quickly darted off after the human.

* * *

In hindsight that was easier said than done and after two hours the seemingly elusive human had yet to reappear anywhere within the confines of the silo, much to the clear irritation of cybertronian in question, who prided herself on her ability to find people.

"Any sign of him Arcee?" enquired Prime as he caught site of his second in command coming stomping back into the main chamber.

"Not even a whisper." grumbled the fem as she took on an unhappy air. "It's like he just vanished into thin air."

"Judging from what we've seen of him in the field we can safely say that if Jack doesn't want to be found then he won't be" replied her superior sagely as he glanced over at the now more noticeable empty viewing area. "The children have been escorted home, hopefully this will draw him out of wherever spot he has secluded himself in"

"We can only hope" muttered the fembot.

* * *

"Evening." the sudden declaration brought the corvette to a grinding halt as swerved to avoid the lone figure standing in the centre of the road. "I think you and I need to have a quick chat." the scout let out a threatening bleep as he transformed into his bipedal form. "Do you mind speaking in morse code, then the two of us can actually hold a conversation without me having to guess what half the things you're saying are." added Jack as he completely ignored the look of total frustration that plastered itself on the autobots faceplate.

" _Explain yourself right now!_ " demanded Bumblebee as he lent down to glare at the lone human, who as ever remained completely unaffected by the looming titan.

"You want me to explain?" countered the man coldly as he glanced up at the lead scout, a complete and utter lack of respect clearly visible on his face. "Fine I'll explain, I'll explain how you managed to allow an enemy agent within striking distance of a vital asset, I'd also explain that not only did you manage to screw that up but you then proceeded to compromise our bases location!" stated Jack quietly as he jabbed a finger in the transformers stunned expression.

" _That, that can't be true_." stammered the autobot as he watched the man pull the collectable out from a coat pocket.

"Is that so?" commentated the agent as without a single hint of hesitation he crushed the toy in between his gloved fingers "Then pray tell what is this?" he questioned as he opened up his closed digits to reveal a small metal disc in the centre of the wreckage.

" _A wireless transmitter_." whispered the mech as a sinking feeling made its way into his spark chamber.

"Well done you win a cookie." mocked the human before turning deadly serious once more. "I left the protection of the children in your people's hands because I was under the impression that the autobots were experienced professional soldiers not amateurs." but Bumblebee was no longer listening.

"I _need to contact Optimus right away, they need to be warned!_ " stated the scout franticly as he hastily pressed a servo to com-link " _Omega one, come in, omega one!_ " but the only thing that answered him was the long harrowing shriek of static blaring out of his speakers.

"Not going to happen." growled Jack as he slowly stepped back into the mechs line of site."You had your chance, now we do things my way." the bot stared at him with a blank face before letting out a sigh.

"What are you going to do?" Whispered the scout.

"What I do best." replied the agent evenly as he pulled a cigarette from his coat. "You're coming as well. I need a ride."

" _Let's get this over with._ " muttered Bumblebee depressingly as he quickly transformed back into his alter mode.

"Don't worry I've got everything under control." commentated the human as he dropped into the driver's seat.

" _You light that and I fling you out at ninety miles an hour and see how many times you bounce before you come to a stop._ " Bumblebee said through the radio just as Jack struck a match. Jack chuckled softly and extinguished his match.

"Fair enough, you spend a lot of time around Rafael." He said before lapsing into silence.

" _So what happens if you don't have everything under control?_ " the man snorted in disinterest.

"Then some bad stuff happens." the remark was not well received.

" _And if everything_ _ **is**_ _under control?_ " questioned the autobot hotly.

"Then some bad stuff will happen anyway, just no one will know about it." stated the agent as they drove off into the gloom. "I take it that you don't approve?"

" _Is it that obvious?_ " spat the cybertronian pointedly.

"Are you that naïve?" countered Jack coldly "Your people have been at war for millennia do you really think that your side hasn't done similar things in that time."

" _Of cause not!_ " snapped the corvette. " _Doesn't mean it's right!_ "

"No, but it _is_ necessary" replied the human as they pulled into town. "But we can argue semantics later, I've got the woman's address, don't ask how." added the agent as he court the low rumble from the engine. "Just take me to the 'Desert Rose' apartment building on the north side of Jasper, I'll take care of the rest"

" _Fine, but I'm reporting this to Optimus when this is all over._ " muttered Bumblebee as they flew through the town.

"If that's what you want" replied the passenger as he calmly pulled his sig Sauer out of its hip holster. "Just get me to the drop-off point." the next few minutes passed by intense silence as the pair drew closer to their final destination.

" _We're here._ " snapped the mech as he pulled up into a nearby alleyway. " _Get out_ "

"Stay out of sight" instructed the man before calmly disappearing into the surrounding shadows.

* * *

"Yet another day in hell" muttered the woman as she stomped up the stairs that led to her recently rented apartment. "Can't wait to get out of this place." she paused at the door for a moment as she dragged her keys out of a trouser pocket. "Alex, John get anything interesting out of the bug?" stated the speaker as she entered into their drab accommodation.

"You could say that." replied Jack evenly as he wrapped a hand around her throat.

* * *

 _ **Half an hour earlier:**_

"Any more information from that tracker?" questioned the agent as he came walking back into the living room at a leisurely pace.

"Not a thing." grumbled his co-worker as he glanced up from the laptop in frustration. "It's was working fine ten minutes ago but now nothing."

"Could have been faulty" stated the figure as he took a sip of his coffee. "Did you get anything useful out of it at least?"

"The last time it broadcast it was still out in the desert somewhere, I'm running a search of the agencies archives, and I'll tell you if I find anything."

"Much appreciated." snorted the man as he paused in mid sip. "Did you hear something?" he whispered.

"No, why?"

"I could've sworn I heard glass breaking just now" muttered the agent as he pulled a pistol out of its hiding place. "Go check it out."

"You do it." snapped the tech expert quietly as he glanced around at his cramped surroundings. "You're the one with the gun!"

"Fine, just make sure to cover me"

"Too late." stated Jack as he stepped out of the bedroom, weapon raised "Better luck next time." the first shot shattered the nearest man's face, splitting his skull and sending his brain fragments flying through the room; his colleague quickly joined him as he was executed by a double tap to the chest from the intruders silenced firearm. "Now all I have to do is wait." muttered the man evenly as he settled himself down to wait for the last member of the party to arrive.

* * *

She'd been a screamer, it had been rather annoying to tell the truth, there was nothing worse than someone who screamed; fortunately he'd had the smart idea to tape her mouth shut beforehand, still the muffled whimpering had gotten boring very quickly, she'd hadn't even been that useful, her real name had turned out to be Emily Ruth, from California. Turned out Miss Ruth was working for the NSA, nothing stranger there, the agency had always had the reputation for being a bit of a dick when it came to finding out other people's secrets for their personal use.

"That's why I always hated working for your boss." stated Jack as he readjusted his grip on the burlap sack. "The guys a total ass." his reluctant companion remained silent, being dead tended to do that, but Jack was never one for normal conversation at the best of times. "Well look at it this way; at least you get a proper burial, better than the other two." he'd yanked the gas lines out of the back of the stove before leaving the apartment and judging by the orange glow on the horizon it hadn't reacted well to the cigarette that had been left burning in the nearby ashtray. "Though I get the feeling that no one will see it that way." Bumblebee hadn't been to happy when he'd seen the state that the human had been in when he finally exited the building, carrying the suspiciously heavy sack over his shoulder; it had gone downhill from there and had finally resulted in him being abandoned at the side of the road with his grisly cargo by the enraged scout, who'd subsequently vanished into the night.

"I tell you there's no professionalism anymore." grumbled the agent as he dragged the body through the desert. "Good thing you met me right?" joked Jack as he finally found his dumping ground, though in all honesty it had been a pain to sneak out of the base to dig the graves in advance, but experience had taught him that nothing helped a cleanup operation along then proper, well dug graves. "Well it's been nice working with you." stated the man as he manhandled the sack into the waiting hole. "Now where did I leave that damned shovel?"

* * *

 **Here you go folks, hope you liked it, big shout out to my proofreader** **Darth Azrael as always. **

**Please leave the review or comment, it is really interesting to see what the readers think.  
**

 **If you like my work I have two over stories on the go at the moment, which is why I'm slightly slower at updating this.**

 **see on the next chapter, its going to be action packed to say the least.**

 **Gods-own.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 5**

Rather understandably the revelation that they were being spied on by their so called allies was met with heated consternation from the younger cybertronian members of the team and it was only the direct intervention from Optimus Prime that finally put a stop to the deafening crescendo that had been echoing of the silo's walls for the past few hours. The down side of this was that their focus quickly shifted onto Jack, who found himself the centre of the titans unwanted attention; suffice it to say that no one was all that impressed with the individuals actions and his fellow agent went so far as to threaten physically harm against the man when he found out about some of the more unsavoury aspects of the mission.

Once again it took Prime stepping in to prevent the situation from developing any further, unfortunately the autobot leader was just as unhappy with his human teammate as anyone else and as a result the agent found himself slugging through deciduous woodland in late fall, his now permanent companion in tow.

"Any readings on the scanner yet?" enquired Jack irritably as they crested yet another tree covered hillside only to see more wilderness waiting for them on the other side.

"What do you think?" tersely replied Arcee as she turned her attention away from the portable device to look at the human in tired frustration.

"I'm guessing no then." muttered the agent as he pulled a dog eared pack of cigarettes out of a coat pocket. "How long have we been out here?"

"About five cycles give or take" commented Arcee as she quickly glanced at her internal clock with disinterest.

"So about six earth hours then." grumbled Jack to himself as he took a long drag of nicotine, smoke billowing from his nostrils when he exhaled.

"I've heard those things are bad for your health right?" stated cybertronian as they started off once again at a brisk pace.

"So I've been told." countered the man idly as he clambered over a moss covered log. "But I'm willing to bet that lung cancer won't be the thing that does me in." the bot raised a optic ridge sceptically.

"Is that so?" the pair fell silent as the taller of the two took in this new information, with nothing but the sound of falling leaves to break the seasonal stillness.

"So how long are the two of us going to keep doing this?" questioned Jack as he ran an eye other their general surroundings. "These missions I mean. This is what, the fifth time we've been sent out to scout for energon deposits?"

"The sixth actually." countered Arcee evenly as her optics remain fixed straight ahead as she scouted a path through the landscape. "But who's counting?"

"You apparently." the pink and blue titan turned to glare down at her companion.

"Look I don't like being stuck doing the same routine assignment day in and day out but until Optimus decides otherwise you're being kept away from the rest of the team." the human had been on long term probation ever since the "The incident" as various individuals had taken to calling it.

"I'm not going to apologise for doing my job." stated Jack as he marched past the bot. "I did what was necessary."

"You killed your own people." snapped the fem sharply as she easily kept pace with the guilty party.

"They were threatening the security of the operation with their ill-conceived surveillance, it put us at risk of being exposed to the population at large and had to be stopped." a look of mild disgusted flashed across the autobots faceplate as she heard this.

"Are you sure you're not a decepticon?" she questioned "Because your sounding lot like one right about now." the human snorted dismissively.

"And the autobots never took extreme measures during your war?" the man replied coldly.

"That's different!" spluttered Arcee as she took on a unhappy air. "We never tortured and killed our own teammates!"

"They weren't my colleagues, they were agents of a rival organization and they would have done untold amounts of damage if we let them continue."

"It doesn't make it right."

"No it makes it necessary, that doesn't mean I like it." stated Jack, and fortunately for those involved the conversation was cut short as the cybertronian came to a sudden halt, a warning flashing across her heads up display.

"Energon?" enquired the agent pointedly as he court the expression that darted over the titans features.

"No the readings are different" replied the fembot seriously as she glanced distractedly towards some point in the distance. "I could swear that I'm picking up a ship about eight clicks ahead of us."

"Is it still active?" demanded Jack as he unslung his rifle from his shoulder.

"Can't say, all I know is that the reactor is still producing power." whispered the titan darkly as she exchanged a knowing look with her small partner. "We need to contact the others." the human nodded silent in agreement as he quickly glanced around at the sea of trees, eyes peeled for potential threats.

"I'll cover you, make it quick." muttered the agent as he took up a better firing position further up the slope. "We need to relocate as soon as possible."

"Roger that" stated Arcee as she activated her com-link. "Omega one, come in Omega base one!" the autobot snapped off a cold glare at Jack as she picked up nothing but static on the other end of the line. "Do you have that scrapping jammer of yours turned on?" angrily demanded the fem.

"No." a tense atmosphere descended as soon as the revelation left the man's mouth.

"So we're not alone out here."

"Seems like it." came the reply as her unwanted partner dragged himself away from his scope to look down at the pink and blue robot. "We need to neutralize the hostile scrambling equipment as soon as possible; otherwise it's going to get extremely complicated."

"Agreed, without communications we can't call in the ground bridge to retrieve us." Jack turned thoughtful as he contemplated this.

"The most likely location for the jammer is on the unknown vessel." Stated the agent as he glanced around at the now hostile landscape with suspicion, "Even if it's not we could still potentially steal the ship if it's still working and escape."

"That could actually work." muttered the fem as she ran the plan over in her command module. "And even if we can't steal it we could destroy it and use the ensuing chaos to escape." the human nodded in agreement as he started off into the woods. "Hey, where are you going?"

"To scout ahead, we'll stay undetected longer if I'm out in front." Arcee scowled.

"Are you saying that I can't be stealthy?" she demanded angrily .

"I'm saying that whoever _is_ out there won't be on the lookout for a human." snorted Jack dismissively as he took the lead.

"Primus give me strength." muttered the cybertronian as she fell in behind her unwanted colleague.

* * *

The next few hours slowly crept by as the two of them cautiously picked their way through the vibrant autumn landscape, every once in a while stumbling upon the signs of human activate in the form of abandon fire pits and overgrown pathways.

"Another campsite?" questioned the autobot quietly as she caught sight of the darkly dressed human kneeling down in the centre of a wooded clearing; several small tents dotted around him. "They seem to have left in a hurry."

"Not all of them left." whispered Jack grimly as he moved around just enough to show the towering figure the large scarlet blemishes that covered several sections of the forest floor.

"How long do you think it's been here?" enquired Arcee distractedly as she glanced around at their general surroundings.

"A day at the most, this area hasn't had any rain for weeks so the ground would have absorbed most of the water from the blood rather quickly, the fact that the earth's still damp would suggest that not much time has passed since then." he looked up at the pink and blue titan. "At least we know now that whatever is out there is hostile."

"That isn't reassuring but it's still nice to know." muttered the cybertronian as she kept one optic fixed on the tree line as her companion finished his inspection of the ruined encampment. "Did you find anything else?" she glanced at Jack from over her shoulder as she received no answer. "Well did you?" there was a long pause before the agent replied and when he did his tone was laced with cold professionalism.

"From the scratches in the dirt we're looking at a bot of some kind, can't say how big but judging from the evidence they're somewhere around your size."

"That doesn't really help narrow it down." countered the fem "I can think of at least twelve different cons my size just off the top of my head."

"And what about autobots?" asked the human "How many do you now that were your size?"

"You think one of us did this?" spluttered Arcee disbelievingly "That's totally ridiculous, no autobot would ever do something like this!" Jack fixed her with a long stare before letting out a tired sigh.

"People change Arcee, especially during wartime, can you honestly say that one of your number isn't responsible?" he said with such honest tones that it actually stopped the titan in her tracks as she looked over towards the lone human in front of her.

"Why did you say it like that?" the smaller of the pair slowed as he glanced back at the fem.

"Say it like what?"

"The way you said that last sentence, it sounded like you'd been in this kind of situation before." the man fell silent as if he was working the question over in his mind and in all honesty he probably was judging by the sheer look of concentration that was playing out across the persons face.

"Do you know why I shot Cliffjumper during our first mission?" Arcee flinched as she heard her partners name but she dignified his question with a response.

"Because he was trying to rip my fuel line out with his teeth." whispered the fembot. "That's what you said."

"That's the justification I gave yes, but that wasn't the reason." explained Jack as he looked up at titan with a level expression.

"And what was the real reason?" demanded the fem sharply as she took on a hostile air.

"So that you didn't have to do it." the stunned silence that greeted the statement was almost deafening as the autobot desperately attempted to wrap her mind around this revelation. "Surprised?"

"Would be a massive understatement." spluttered Arcee as she rapidly attempted to keep herself focused on the conversation.

"It would have been either you or him and you know it." countered her companion "But no matter how justified, killing a friend, a comrade, it changes you." he flashed her a small sad smile as he turned to walk away. "And no matter how much you and I hate each other I wouldn't wise that fate upon you, even if you do manage to piss me off every single day"

"And here you were doing so well." chuckled cybertronian as she fell in beside him as the pair continued towards their final destination, "So, who was it?" enquired the fem after a few minutes.

"Hmm?" the reply earned the man a frustrated sigh from the towering individual as they continued walking through the forest.

"Can't you just answer my question for once?" grumbled the titan

"Eventually, when I think you've earned an answer." commented the agent as he kept his vision fixed directly ahead of them as they traversed their way through the open terrain.

"And how will I know I've earned it?" snorted Arcee disbelieving.

"If there's one thing you should have learned about me by now; it's that I make good on my word. You'll know." And she had to give him credit, he was right, it was pretty much the only thing that any of them knew about the man in question was that if he said that he was going to do something he did it.

"Fine." muttered the fem as she caught up with her partner. "But don't think for a second that I'm going to go easy on you just because you're being sociable."

"I wouldn't want you too." Snorted Jack dryly as the pair returned to the task at hand.

* * *

"Well at least it's not too hard to find." grumbled the human as the pair looked out over probably the worst deliberate landing in the planets history.

"Looks like a modified decepticon scout ship" commented Arcee as her optics zoomed in on the vessel. "It still looks intact so we could use it to get to safety"

"How many can that ship hold normal"

"It needs a crew of one but it can hold a five bot team" explained the autobot quietly as she glanced around nervously at the surrounding tree line.

"So we could theoretically be outnumbered more than two to one." stated the agent grimly as he took stock of their current situation. "That's not good."

"Indeed." the autobot let out a tired sigh as she said this. "But there's nothing that we can do about it, not until we get that jammer offline." she glanced at the open terrain "Cover me till I get to the ship."

"Already on it, get going." countered Jack as he got himself into a better firing position.

"Don't miss." but the statement went unanswered as the imposing figure set of at blistering speed towards the scorched spacecraft.

"Comm check." the agents tones came crackling out over the team channel.

"Just about working." came the reply as she slipped down into the relatively safety of the massive trench the ship had churned into the forest floor. "You still got eyes on me?"

"Yes, keep moving" there was no frustration in his voice, just a bland professional tone that echoed out over her audio receptors. "Will relocate once you're on site."

"Roger that, stay sharp" the line went dead as she turned her attention back towards her final destination, the ship itself was seemingly undamaged by its rapid descent, what's was more worrying was the fact that the rear access hatch was wide open the interior lights still flickering slightly.

"Sitrep?"

"Rear ramp is down, lights still on." there was a long pause.

"Check inside, priority is the jamming equipment, I'll keep watch out here, stay alert" his sharpness had returned not a good sign.

"Going in" her optics shuddered and glowed as they readjusted themselves to the ever present gloom that seemed to seep from every nook and cranny of the cramped space.

"I've got a bad feeling about this" muttered Arcee as she inched her way slowly towards what appeared to be the cockpit, or whatever passed for a cockpit on a vassal this sizes.

"Do you see anything that you recognize?" questioned the unseen agent as the fem glanced around at the rows upon rows of pickled heads, milky white eyes staring out damningly at her as the slender autobot slipped by.

"No but I'm getting a really bad case déjà vu." replied the bot as an almost overwhelming sense of dread washed over the lone titan as she look at the grizzly trophies hanging from the ceiling.

"Get out" The order came thundering out over the com-link. "Set the charges and get out, right now!"

"Why, what's wrong?" demanded Arcee as she quickly glanced over her shoulder at the open exit. "Is someone outside?"

"You're becoming distracted, the ship is affecting you, set the demolition charges and get out!" repeated Jack sharply as split second there came the unmistakable sound of footsteps echoed in from outside "Contact"

"I see them, single cybertronian, fem, around your height"

"Do you have a clear line of shot on the hostile?" whispered Arcee quietly as she slow levelled a plasma rifle at the open hatch.

"No clear shot, I repeat no clear shot, get out of there!" shouted the human over the com as an imposing individual with too many legs came striding into view.

"Well, well, well, look who came knocking on my door" chuckled the decepticon as she took a confident step towards the lone fem. "It's been a long time Arcee."

"Airachnid." a smug grin spread across the figures faceplate as she heard the blazing venom that was ingrained into the speakers tones.

"Did you miss me?"

"Like rust blight!" snarled the autobot as she was forcefully dragged back into the past as ghosts of things long since dead came rushing back to haunt her once again.

"Well I'll have to leave a stronger impression on you this time." declared the hostile fem as she flexed all her servos in anticipation.

"Not if I do it first!" roared Arcee as she came crashing out of the flashback with a vengeance as she throw herself bodily across the narrow space.

* * *

"Good damn it!" snarled the agent as he watched the sprawling melee rapidly get out of hand as the his colleague repeatedly slammed a clenched servo into the attackers faceplate only to get floored by a savage upper cut from one of things many legs that sent the pink and blue bot crashing down the ramp in a shower of sparks.

* * *

"I'm disappointed Arcee" commented Airachnid drily as she took on a smug air as she sidestep around a telegraphed counter to deliver a sharp jab that sent blue blood splattering across the scorched earth as the blow split the figures synthetic lip and sent her once more crashing into the dirt. "You've gotten soft."

"Go get scrapped." muttered the smaller fem as she planted a kick into an exposed shin, earning a savage curse from the attacker as she limped backwards out of reach as she but some distance between herself and the enraged autobot.

"Get clear." the order echoed out of thin air as the fem staged upright.

"Stay out of this, she mine!" snapped the bruised and battered figure as her gaze remained locked on her long-term foe, which just stood there, wicked grin plastered across her faceplate.

"Aaw did you bring a friend?" cued the con mockingly as she slowly ran an optic over the surrounding terrain. "Why don't you introduce us? I'm always eager to meet new people."

"Stay the hell away from him!" snarled Arcee as she dodged to the side just in the nick of time as a barbed leg came hurtling past her head.

"A 'he' huh, so your partnered with another mech then." commented Airachnid as she took on a thoughtful pose. "I wonder what he'll be like, I did so like playing with the last one." the comment drew a bellowing roar from the pink and blue titan as she heard it.

"I'll make you pay for killing Tailgate you sick piece of scrap!" thundered the fem as she throw herself back into the confrontation with renewed zeal.

"I told you to get clear!" snapped the agent over the com-link as he court site of the rash manoeuvre. "Listen to instructions damn it!"

"Will you shut the frag up!" countered the cybertronian as she ducked under a savage counter attack to deliver one of her own. "I'm kind of busy down here!"

"I can see that." commented Jack dryly as she heard him chambered a fresh round into the rifle. "Brace for fire support" the warning was followed a split-second later by the screeching cry of tearing metal as the armour penetrating round smashed its way through the vessels rear stabilizers before lodging itself deeply in one of the main thrusters in a shower of sparks.

"My ship!" yelled the deceptacon angrily as she glanced away from the smoking vehicle just in time to dodge the combat blade that was aimed directly at her throat. "Do you have any idea how long that's going to take to fix."

"A lot less then it'll take to fix your faceplate when I'm done with you!" Promised the autobot as she slammed a servo into the side of the attacker's helmet, denting it and drawing a pained gasp from the owners vocal systems.

"Arcee the ships venting fuel, get clear I'm switching incendiary ammunition." the warning was meet with stunned disbelief as the towering figure quickly did the mental math and came up with a result that sent her sprint in the opposite direction at breakneck speed.

"I don't think we're quite finished our little dance just yet." snorted the psychopath as she stomped after the retreating figure. "Get back here!"

"I would but I don't want to get caught in the explosion." countered Arcee throw herself bodily onto the floor.

"Explosion?" muttered Airachnid as she glanced over her shoulder at the ship. "What explosion?"

"This one." the blazing round flashed past the pair as it slammed home into the ruined engines, the world slowed to a crawl as the blossoming fireball poured out in all directions..

"Noooo!" the pained scream was music to the human's ears as he watched the spidery figure being sent crashing into the scorched earth as the shockwave came thundering by.

"My trophies!"

"Time to go." instructed Jack as he quickly relocated from his elevated position. "Regroup at the campsite."

"Roger that." answered Arcee as she hastily transformed into her alt form before beating a quick retreat towards the distant tree line, the enraged screeches of the deceptacon reverberating in her audio ports.

* * *

"I'll find you and by the pits I will make you pay!" the furious declaration echoed out over the woodland as the lone autobot carefully made her away through cover towards the nearby rally point.

"Does she ever shut up?" Muttered Jack over the com-link. "I'm getting sick hearing her all the god damn time."

"That makes two of us" answered the fem distractedly as she carefully glanced back the way she came. "Are you at the campsite yet?" She added quietly.

"Not yet, I had to take a roundabout route to try and buy you some breathing room, did you get in contact with base?" Arcee grimaced slightly at the question.

"I'm still being jammed; Airachnid must have a portable emitter somewhere on her person."

"It can't be as powerful as the main unit, we could try getting out of its range." suggested the human thoughtfully. "But I can't imagine that our unwanted associate is just going to allow us to walk out of here unopposed?" there was a long silence as the two of them weighed up their options.

"We could try to taking her offline, that could work" muttered the fem quietly.

"It won't be easy" countered Jack pointedly as his tone turned serious. "She's a hunter, in her ideal terrain, our best bet is for one of us to distract her while the other one attempts to get to a safe distance and call in reinforcements." which would mean that one of them would be left to fend for themselves against a crazed psychopath, with a hard on for murder and mayhem until help arrived.

"I'll do it." declared Arcee suddenly. "I'm tougher than you are and besides she'll be gunning for me anyway" there was a long pause.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, now get going, you're wasting time." the human signed in frustration before cutting the call short. "Now all I have to do is stay alive." muttered the titan as she slowly got herself into a better defensible position. "Can't be that hard."

"I wouldn't count on it sweet thing." whispered the feminine voice from above her as the world went dark.

* * *

 **Here it is folks sorry about the long wait, I hope you liked it, please leave a review or comment if you could it means a lot to see how you the readers are experiencing it so far, also if you have any question or theories about the work I'd be pleased to hear them.**

 **As always a big shout out to my proofreader Darth Azrael for their continued and much need help, look them up if you have time they do good stuff.**

 **Please Read: to all those waiting for the next chapter of the Legacy of Wrath it has been delayed by at least a week due to me catching a cold in the middle of writing it, my apologizes. **

**Gods-own**


	6. Chapter 6

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 6**

"Rise and shine little spark, rise and shine." Teased Airachnid as she gently poked a metallic finger into her old adversaries jogging her fellow fembot rather rudely awake from unconscious.

"Airachnid!"

"The very same." chuckled the Decepticon evilly as she ran a sharpened talon down one side of the autobots helmet, earning her a hateful scowl from the prisoner, who quickly found herself rather snugly restrained against a nearby cliff face by the milky white strands that made up the entirety of the spiders artificial threads. "There's no point in struggling, my webs are stronger then carbon steel." she commented lazily as she watched the pink and blue figure struggle ineffectively against her restraints. "You're not going anywhere."

"I wouldn't count on it." growled the fem coldly as she fixed her old enemy with a piercing glare "I'm going to rip your spark chamber out and show it to you!"

"My, my, my, what a horrible way to greet an old friend" mocked the multi limbed bot as she slowly took a few step back as she turned her full attention towards the smoldering remains of her ship that could just be seen off in the distance. "Besides if we're talking about grievances you've done a far more to me than I ever did to you." snarled Airachnid venomously as pure rage flash across her optics. "Do you have an idea how long it took me to collect all those trophies?"

"A single tear rolls down my cheek." snorted Arcee snidely which quickly reward her with a right hook that slammed the autobots head back into the cliff face with a noticeable thud.

"I would watch your mouth if I was you." threatened the Decepticon as a wicked smirk painted itself on her faceplate "After all, you've already lost two partners, and I'd hate to make it three."

"You stay the hell away from him!" bellowed the fem angrily as she desperately tried to free herself from the synthetic prison. "He has nothing to do with this!"

"Oh but he does." gleefully corrected the sadist as she lent in close to her arch foe. "You see he's the one that torched my current collection of trophies, it only seems fitting that the little human is the first piece of my new display."

"I won't let you!" heatedly spat the titan as she struggled against her bonds.

"I don't think you have much say in the matter." countered Airachnid coolly as she confidently strolled away, much to the blatant horror of the autobot, who could only watch as the sociopath happily headed off to hunt down their erstwhile partner.

* * *

"Now if I was a little squishy human, where would I be?" muttered Decepticon to herself as she quickly picked her way through the rather barren woodland in search of her pray. "I could swear that my scanners picked him up moving towards this location, don't tell me that he got lost."

"No, I'm exactly where I need to be." stated a voice directly behind her as Airachnid heard the unmistakable sound of a large calibre round being chambered.

* * *

"Come on, come on!" snarled Arcee viciously as she tugged ineffectively against her restrains. "Brake you rusting piece of scrap!" but the autobots struggles were quickly silenced as a deafening roar echoed out from the surrounding woodland. "Was that Airachnid?" Questioned the fem in disbelief as she heard the unmistakable sounds of plasma rifles being fired in anger. "By the pits what's happening?"

* * *

"You little pest!" Screeched the Decepticon angrily as she blazed away the surrounding landscape. "How dare you blemish my beautiful features!" she jerked a servo towards the inch long gouge that marred the side of her helmet.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder bug bot." retorted the unseen human levelly as yet another large calibre round came thundering through a nearby tree trunk towards her.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Declared the titan gleefully as she dived out of the way of the bullet and saturated the nearby terrain with her counter-attack.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" snorted the evasive opponent. "And here I thought the so called Witch of Kaon was someone to be feared." the remark earned him a snarl from the robotic hunter as she carefully glanced around for signs of movement.

"Talkative one aren't you?" growled Airachnid coldly as she slowly readjusted her stance. "I'm going to enjoy stripping the flesh from your bones."

"Unlikely." stated the agent evenly as he materialized directly behind her. "But I'd still like to see you try." unfortunately he'd underestimated her flexibility as she lashed out mere moments later with a hind limb and would have been sent flying if the attack hadn't just phased through him as if he was made out of nothing but air.

"What!?" Screeched the fembot in disbelief as she cast a stunned optic over the small metal disk that was planted firmly at her feet. "A hologram transmitter, why does a human have one of these!?" it took her a few seconds to catch on to what had happened, but when she did a blind look of pure unadulterated rage painted itself thickly onto her faceplate.

* * *

"By Primus let him be ok." whispered Arcee tiredly as she grew noticeably concerned at the sudden silence that had come to dominate the sea of trees all around her.

"So you do care." commented Jack drily as he came quietly jogging into few into view.

"Jack!"

"Keep it down!" hissed the agent angrily as he cast a calculating gaze back the way he'd come. "I managed to lose her for a bit but it won't be long before she figures out what's going on, so let's make this quick shall we?"

"Couldn't agree more." muttered the autobot as she watched her teammate scramble up the cliff face towards her. "How did you get away?" the man glanced away from the webbing.

"Bait and switch." he allowed himself a small smile. "It works every time"

"Is that so!" bellowed Airachnid as she came charging into the clearing. "Then let's see how you do without it!?" she let off a snap shot that sent the human diving for cover as the scorching plasma tore through the air just above his head.

"Jack get out of here I'll be fine!" shouted the cybertronian desperately as she watched her long term enemy advance menacingly towards him. "Don't worry about me."

"Not gonna happen." retorted Jack sharply as he began returning fire at the approaching titan. "My orders are to protect all vital military assets with my life which includes you." the comment earned him a mocking cackle from his mechanical opponent as she court the tail end of the statement.

"Do you really think that you stand a chance at defeating me?" Crowed Airachnid in disbelief as she calmly sidled over towards her struggling prisoner. "Oh my dear your new partner must really have a few bolts lose if he thinks that's a possibility." the autobot flinched as the sadist ran a clawed servo down one side of her helmet. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"If you lay even a single digit on him I'll..." but the threat was quickly silenced as her head was slammed forcefully into the nearby rock face.

"You'll what? I hold all the cards here Arcee, both you and your teammates lives are in my hands." declared the Decepticon as she turned to look away. "Now where did our little friend go?" she got her answer rather soon then expected as she court sight of the lone human watching silently from a safe distance, a look of tired boredom plastered across his face.

"Are you finished monologuing?" Questioned Jack as he calmly rested his now empty rifle on a nearby tree stump. "Because I'm getting rather tired of waiting." the fembot raised a brow plate in mild surprise.

"You actually think you can beat me." she stated clearly not believing she was seeing. "You do realize that I'm superior to you in every conceivable way human, it wouldn't even be a challenge." the agent let out a dismissive snort as he cracked his neck in grim anticipation.

"Your old boss Tarantulas said exactly the same thing when he fought me." remarked the agent levelly as he began striding towards the stunned opposition. "But I killed him all the same." that wiped the confidence from the titans faceplate as she took an unconscious step backwards in hesitation.

"That's impossible, you're bluffing!" snarled Airachnid venomously as she took on a defensive stance. "A human can't possibly beat a cybertronian on their own!"

"Then prepare to be disappointed." replied the man as he vanished from view.

"Another hologram!?" Screeched the spider furiously as she spun around in anticipation of an attack, only to be reward with a savage flash of pain as something razor sharp buried itself deeply into her right shoulder pad.

"First rule of combat, never turn your back on the enemy." came the emotionless declaration as the human flicked back into the waking world.

"Nice to know." snarled the fem coldly before she swing her entire body weight viciously to one side. "Now get off!" the sudden motion sent the unwanted passenger tumbling back down to earth as he lost his footing on the target.

"Jack!"

"I'm fine, just stay out of this" stated the agent distractedly as he combat rolled into a standing position as soon as he hit the ground.

"You have a cloaking field!" Declared the Decepticon in disbelief as she cast a stunned optic over the matter black trench coat that had crackling energy dancing across it surface. "Why by the pits do you have cloaking technology!" Airachnid cast an accusing glare towards her fellow cybertronian. "I thought that you autobots had that code of yours forbidding exchanging technology with lesser beings?" but the question died in midair as the titan court the look of total bewilderment that was welded in place onto Arcee's faceplate. "You didn't know." quietly murmured the fem as a dawning realization slowly made its way into her command module.

"No she didn't." replied Jack unhappily as he brushed some dried dirt off his expensive looking trousers. "Now where were we?" there came a slight hiss as a pair of long, combat blades slid silently out from his coat sleeves.

"By the Allspark, what are you?" growled the towering individual nervously as she took on a defensive stance.

"That this none of your concern." countered the man coldly as he slowly pulled the sunglasses away from his face revealing an all too familiar set of glowing blue optics underneath. "Let's dance you blue eyed bitch!" He cried as he charged.

* * *

The deafening sounds of battle rang throughout the surrounding woodland as the two combatants went at each other with steely resolution as the large of the pair constantly readjusted her footing as the smaller opponent took advantage of the height advantage to hack viciously at any perceived opening.

"Your really are a pest." muttered Airachnid darkly as she blocked a horizontal slash to her mid drift. "A persistent one but a pest nonetheless!"

"I'll take that as a compliment." snorted the agent as he ducked under right hook to plant a savage kick that sent the Decepticon stumbling backwards in pain.

"You shouldn't be that strong." wheezed the fembot painfully as she dragged herself upright, a noticeable dent clearly present on her breastplate. "Just how augmented are you?"

"More than enough to deal with something like you." replied Jack levelly as he lunged forwards once more, weapons scything wildly as he began cleaving through her flailing appendages as he attempted to get at her core systems.

"I'll kill you, I'll scrapping kill you!" Screeched the cybertronian as she lashed out wildly at her attacker, energon dripping from her damaged limbs as she desperately attempted to keep the ruthless attacker at bay, unfortunately it was become rapidly apparent to the bot that the tide was rapidly turning against her as she found herself being slowly but steadily driven back towards the waiting cliff face.

"Just give up now, it'll be easier on you if you do." commented the human dryly as he slashed at an exposed leg joint, earning him a bellowing screech from the purple titan which was quickly followed up by a back handed slap that sent him skidding backwards across the clearing as the attack struck home.

"As if I'd be defeated by the likes of you abomination!" spat the Decepticon furiously as she staggered upright. "But my revenge will have to wait until next time." cackled the fem as she tore a small metal ball off her waist before detonating it, coating the surrounding area in a thick, blinding smog.

"Shit its white phosphorus!" snarled the agent as he quickly shielded his face from the burning substance as he beat a hasty retreat to safety. "She gone?" the autobot nodded grimly as she yanked her optics away from the newly revealed hole to stare pointedly at her partner. "You hurt?"

"No, are you?" she questioned coldly as she cast an appraising glare over his small form.

"Nothing a little R and R won't cure." muttered Jack as he returned his sunglasses to their rightful resting place upon his face before he turned his full attention towards freeing the pink and blue bot from her restraints.

"So what do we do now?" Enquired Arcee sharply as she flexed her sore joints irritably. "Because I for one am not going anywhere until you explain to me what the void is going on!" the human let out a frustrated sigh as he pulled a pack of dog eared cigarettes out from a coat pocket.

"Are you finished?" he replied tiredly as popped one of the white sticks into his mouth before igniting the business end of it mere moments later. "Because I could really do with a cold beer and a nice lie down"

"Then you better start talking!" snarled the fem as she lowered herself down to until she could glare at eye level with the agent. "Like why are you augmented with cybertronian technology?" she demanded.

"Because someone thought that would be a good idea." muttered Jack darkly as turned to walk away. "We should contact base to let them know that we're safe, their probably concerned about our lack of contact" he added as he glanced around at the destroyed landscape. "Also we need to get someone out here to clear up all the mess that we left."

"Stop trying to change the subject!" snapped the titan angrily as she stomped around in front of him cutting off his exit. "I want an explanation!"

"No"

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean no!" countered Jack sharply as he took on a frustrated air. "I don't need to explain myself to you." he jabbed a gloved finger at the slightly stunned onlooker. "If you want to go running back to your boss and tell him what you saw then fine, but don't act like I owe you anything because I don't!" there was real anger in the man's tones, a clear, burning sensation that seemed almost out of place with the man's normally dour appearance. "Now get the hell out of my way!"

"Not going to happen." declared the autobot resolutely as the she folded her servos over her chest plate. "Not until I get some answers." the human let out a low snarl.

"I'm warning you Arcee back off!" he threatened as the smaller individual took a single step towards the towering figure.

"No."

"Arcee!"

"You won't do anything" countered the fem confidently as she pulled herself up to her full height. "I'm and I quote 'A valuable military asset' I don't think your superiors would be too happy with you trying to kill me." the man let out a loud curse as he realised that he'd been found out. "Now talk!"

"Why, what's the point? You've already made up your mind about my guilt, anything more would just be wasted breath." spat Jack coldly as he side step around the imposing titan.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Demanded the autobot sharply as she took on an insulted air.

"Exactly what it sounds like." retorted the agent as he glared up at his so called partner "You cybertronians are all the same, a bunch of arrogant pricks, the moment you see something that doesn't meet with your species xenophobic views you start demanding answers as if it's your royal prerogative."

"It is my right if human beings are stealing my people's technology and doing things like this!" she gestured at him dismissively.

"You think humans did this?" roared Jack angrily as he yanked off his gloves reviling the matter black prosthetics underneath. "A human didn't do this, one of yours did!" the revelation brought an unmistakable grimace to her faceplate as the information hit home. "Look I apologise for what the decepticons did to you but..."

"The decepticons didn't do this, it was one of yours!" snarled the agent as he fixed the cybertronian icy stare.

"But that goes against the code, against everything we stand for." whispered Arcee in disbelief as she took a step back in horror.

"The code, no one gives a fuck about your code anymore, you've been at war for so long that it's pretty damn hard to tell who is who." stated the human bitterly as he let out a tired sigh. "Trust me I've dealt with enough of your deserters and neutrals to get a pretty good gauge on just how fucked up the whole situation has become."

"Who was it, who was it that..."

"Turned me into a freak of nature?" Finished Jack as he ignored the visible grimace that his self-declaration caused. "An autobot doctor by the name of Gearshift, he was part of an organization I used to work for."

"Is he still employed by this organization?" Question the fem grimly.

"Yes to the best of my knowledge, he was considered one of their top researchers so they'd be pained to loss him" admitted the man. "But if you're thinking of going after him then don't, he's well out of your league" he warned darkly.

"You don't think we can handle one deserter?" questioned Arcee in rather clear irritation.

"Putting aside the doctors personal combat skill, which in itself is not something you want underestimate, he will undoubtedly be guarded by an unknown number of the organizations agents." explained Jack as he allowed himself to have another cigarette.

"Agents like yourself?" added the autobot.

"More than likely." the reply was not well received by the fembot.

"Just how many of you are there?" the man shrugged tiredly.

"Haven't got a clue, there were ten of us that survived the augmentation procedures, but that was five years ago, so no telling how many more have been produced since then" he stated, the cybertronian didn't miss the grim undercurrent concealed within the declaration.

"How many didn't survived these procedures?" Quietly enquired the towering figure.

"Too many, far too many." muttered the agent bitterly as he gazed off into the distance.

"My apologies I didn't mean to drag up bad memories." spluttered the autobot apologetically.

"You didn't know." commented Jack as the two of them set off through the ruined landscape. "It's not like you're the person that ripped my arms and legs off." Arcee grimaced uncomfortably.

"That is a mental image that I could well do without." she grumbled.

"That makes two of us." snorted the agent dismissively as he glanced at his wristwatch. "We should really think about contacting Omega base, we should have checked in already."

"Are you really ok with me telling people about this stuff?" questioned the titan uncertainly as she watched her partner retrieve his fallen firearm from its improvised resting place.

"Do whatever you want, I already know that I'm a freak it doesn't matter to me what other people think" replied the man uncaringly as he swung the weapon strapped over his shoulder. "And I trust you do what is best for the sake of the mission" the statement drew disbelieving stare from the cybertronian as she glanced down at her smaller companion.

"You really trust my judgement?" She whispered. "Why?"

"Why not?" Countered the human in a bored tone. "You're Optimus's second-in-command which clearly indicates that you have a better grasp of our overarching goals then the rest of your compatriots, plus you seem to be far more rational than the others, so I'll leave my fate in your hands"

"And you don't mind?" She challenged.

"It's not about what I want, it's about what's best for the mission." commented Jack forcefully as a green swirling vortex appeared directly in front of them. "You should remember that."

"That doesn't seem fair" she whispered.

"It's not, but I've gotten used to people hating me" stated the human as he glanced over his shoulder at the fembot. "Let's go home."

* * *

"I take it that...By Primus, what happened to you two!" Bellowed Ratchet angrily as he court site of the pair as they came walk out of the ground bridge portal.

"Airachnid, Pinky can explain." groaned the agent tiredly as he staged towards his improvised weapons locker "I'm going to get my gear stowed away" the lone human wandered off leaving his larger companion to deal with political fallout of his statement.

* * *

"I see" rumbled Optimus grimly as he took on a thoughtful tone. "This is indeed troubling news, Megatron will no doubt be bolstered by the return of one of his top lieutenants."

"At least they managed to destroy the cons ship." commented Bulkhead smugly as he knocked servos with the fem in silent approval. "I bet she didn't see that one coming."

"Bulkhead makes a good point for once; the loss of airachnids vessel will greatly limit her mobility." Stated Ratchet levelly as he fixed her with a appraising stare "And if she was indeed damaged as badly as Arcee speculates then there is a good chance that we'll get an opportunity to confront her in the near future."

"Agreed." stated Optimus as he looked at his the rest of his team. "We should be on alert for any unusual activity in the near future, she'll undoubtedly attempt to repair herself and gather a stockpile of energon for her own personal use."

"Couldn't she just get those things from the Nemesis?" bleeped bumblebee in mild confusion.

"From my experience with dealing with this particular decepticon I can confidently say that she'll be reluctant to approach Megatron in her current state." answered the prime knowingly as he gazed at the young scout. "In case she incurs his wrath for fail him in someway"

"It wouldn't be the first time" snorted Arcee. "I heard that Megatron almost tore out her spark when she failed him during the first siege Iacon"

"I heard something similar." muttered Optimus grimly.

"If that is everything can I have a word with you Sir, in private?" added the fem as she dropped a not to subtle hint to her fellows bots.

"Of course Arcee." the imposing mech looked at the others "Keep me informed of anything unusual."

"Understood Optimus." replied the medic as the rest of the team wandered off to do their own thing.

"Now," questioned the leader as he turned his full attention back towards his second-in-command "What was it that you want to discuss?"

* * *

Somewhere far away

"Curse Arcee and her pet abomination." snarled arachnid loudly as she tightly clasped a server over a nasty looking wound in her right shoulder plate. That human, if you could call him that had nicked a fuel line and the bot was having trouble keeping herself from going into stasis due to energy loss. "The next time I see them I'm going to rip out their scrapping optics!"

"Jack has that kind of effect on people." declared an unseen speaker knowingly as a voice came echoing out from somewhere behind her, earning them a beastly snarl from the decepticon as she staggered upright.

"Show yourself!" Demanded the fem venomously as her optics danced around at the clinging darkness nervously.

"As you wish." came the reply as the rocky chamber was flooded with blinding white light as a pair of motorcycle headlamps flickered into life. "Better?" the cybertronian could just make out a small figure half hidden in the blind illumination.

"Who are you, what do you want!" snapped the spider sharply as she slowly inched away from the intruder.

"We are here on the behalf of our employer." stated the human evenly as she cast an uncaring gaze over their bland surroundings. "They are rather interested in your particular skill set."

"We?" Questioned the fembot as a split-second later she suddenly picked up the unmistakable sound of a T-cog kicking into high gear as the point of light suddenly rocketed into the air.

"Hey bug bot, been awhile." chuckled the new arrival as she court the look of total disbelief that appeared on the fem's faceplate. "Did you miss me?"

* * *

 **Here it is folks sorry about the long wait, I hope you liked it, please leave a review or comment if you could it means a lot to me to know what you guys and girls think, also if you have any question or theories about the work I'd be pleased to hear them.**

 **As always a big shout out to my proofreader Darth Azrael for their continued and much need help, look them up if you have time they do great work.**

 **See you all next time.**

 **Gods-own.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 7**

"Why did I agree to this again?" groaned Fowler as he glanced up from his hunched over position to stare with clear boredom at the fellow agent that was currently occupying the other half of the truck cab.

"Because you thought it would be safer to transport the Dynamic Nuclear Generation System by road after your little 'incident'." the rather portly man let out a loud snort.

"You mean when my plane was shot down but decepticons?" he countered. "And why aren't you calling the devices but its acronym it saves time."

"Because I don't want to sound like an idiot" countered Jack dismissively, much to Arcee's obvious agreement as she let out a small burst of laughter echo out over the pairs com-link.

"Remind me again why you tagged along?" grumbled Fowler irritably as he cracked open a can of cola. "Because I could have managed this on my own." there was a rather loud rumble from the engine block. "Present company excluded of course."

"The Autobots didn't think it would be wise to leave me behind with Ratchet and the children." commented the agent levelly as he gazed out of the passenger window.

"In our defense Jack, that wasn't the only reason." replied Optimus as his voice came echoing out of the cabins speakers. "I thought we could use this down time to discuss something that Arcee mentioned." the agent raised an eyebrow behind his sunglasses.

"I take it that you want agent Fowler involved in this as well?"

"If you don't mind." replied the Prime politely.

"What are you guys talking about?" questioned the other agent uncertainly.

"What exactly did Arcee tell you?" enquired the man.

"You have nothing to fear Jack." Stated the autobot reassuring "Your faith in my second in command is well placed, she hasn't betrayed your trust."

* * *

 _A few days earlier:_

 _"What was it that you wanted to talk to me about Arcee?" questioned Prime steadily as the two of them slowly made their way to the top of the instillation. "Does it have something to do with your encounter with Airachnid?"_

 _"Yes sir." the team leader noticed the subtle hint of hesitation that had crept into the fembots body language._

 _"But it's not about her per say." ventured the cybertronian. "So, Jack then." the look of surprise that darted across the bots faceplate was an answer in itself. "What was it that you wanted to tell me?" there was a long pause before the pink and blue fem spoke._

 _"I don't know how to proceed sir." the towering bot raised a brow plate in mild surprise._

 _"I'm surprised to hear that Arcee, that is unlike you." the seconded in commander glanced over towards the setting sun._

 _"I found out something about Jack, and when I confronted him about it he answered me truthfully and told me he trusted my decision with how I dealt with the knowledge." the bot fell silent as she watched the last few glowing embers of the star._

 _"And you think you're betraying this trust if you tell me the details of your conversation." added Prime sagely._

 _"Yes." the towering titan smiled softly at the answer._

 _"Then don't tell me, if the agent has put his faith in you then do not destroy that trust." advised Optimus as he placed a servo on to the smaller bots shoulder pad._

 _"But the information." protested the fembot weakly._

 _"Was there something in particular that you thought needed to be brought to my attention?" questioned the titan steadily._

 _"There was."_

 _"And it concerns Jack?" added Optimus._

 _"Sort of, it was more about something he said." admitted the autobot slowly._

 _"Then I don't think he would mind if you told me." reassured the team leader evenly. "Though I would advise that you stay away from more personal information, unless you think it's vital." the bot nodded in understanding._

 _"Ok were to start" muttered Arcee as she quickly ran a servo over the top of her helmet. "I found out why Jack doesn't seem fazed by our technology."_

 _"And why is that?" rumbled the prime._

 _"Because it's not the first time that he's dealt with cybertronians." grimaced the fem as she wordlessly skirted around the rather grim reality of her partners situation._

 _"I see." murmured her superior as he lapsed into silence. "This is rather concerning, since it now appears that we are not the first of our kind to visited this planet." his second in command let out a long sigh._

 _"It's so much worse than that sir." the bot in question raised a brow plate._

 _"How so?" he questioned, the fem rubbed two digits across her forehead in frustration._

 _"Because apparently there's some kind of human organization that employs renegade cybertronians, and they don't seem to have any issues with explaining our technology to them." explained Arcee as she slipped into a serious tone. "Jack used to work for them at one point."_

 _"Did he mention any names?" enquired Optimus grimly. "Anyone you might recognize?"_

 _"No one personally, he did say that one of their chief researchers was an autobot by the name of Gearshift, do you know him?"_

 _"Only by reputation." murmured the Prime. "I believe that Ratchet could probably tell us more, they were colleagues at the same hospital in Iacon if I remember correctly."_

 _"Do we know why he deserted?" questioned Arcee sharply as she tried to find more out about the monster who'd experimented on her partner and over unfortunate humans._

 _"I believe he had a falling out with my predecessor over the nature of some of his research and left; search parties were sent out to look for him towards the end of the war but not trace could be found."_

 _"Until now." muttered Arcee._

 _"Until now." agreed Optimus "It would be wise to try and locate this organization that Jack mentioned, but if they're as dangerous as you're suggesting, then it would be advisable to avoided them for now, at least until Megatron is dealt with."_

 _"Jack said something similar." answered the fem irritable. "He didn't think it was a good idea to mess with them either."_

 _"Then perhaps we should heed the agents advice." commented the larger autobot sagely. "Though I do believe it would be wise for me to discuss the matter with Jack in the near future."_

* * *

"I only wish to enquire about the organization that you were once a part of. Arcee was rather vague on the details and I thought it prudent to wait until we're in a more private setting."

"You do realize that Agent Fowler is currently riding in the cabin with us, not to mention our rather weighty cargo." the remark earned the man a rather impolite response from over the com-link as his partner picked up on the conversation.

"I'm sitting right here you know?" grumbled the African American pointedly as he glared at the steering wheel.

"It was not my intention to leave you out of the conversation Agent Fowler, my apologies; I was simply interested in something that Jack mentioned to my second in command on their last mission." Jack blocked out the rest on the explanation as he gazed disinterestedly out the passenger window, which was rather fortuitous considering the light green helicopter that was currently homing in on their position.

"Fowler, the con that shot you down; green chopper, pale highlights?" questioned Jack sharply.

"That's the one." replied the fellow agent in slight confusion. "Why do you ask?" but his request went unanswered as the agent took on a cold air and tapped the com-link in his ear.

"Look sharp, we've got company." the warning came not a moment too soon as the roar of V8 engines filled the surrounding air.

"It's getting pretty crowded back here big bot." stated Bulkhead loudly over the trucks intercom as the two passengers took note of the small fleet of green muscle cars bearing down on them. "Feeling rather exposed without my fists."

"Negative, stay in information and use as little force as necessary." Instructed the team leader as he gunned his engine.

"I'm really starting to miss my rifle." muttered Jack grimly as he pulled a rather imposing hand cannon from its shoulder holster.

"You didn't bring it with you?" spluttered Fowler in disbelief.

"Of course I brought it with me." snapped the agent "I just left it in the back with Pinky." he muttered quietly.

"Well that's just great." snarled the ex-green beret as he glanced nervously into the rear-view mirror. "You think that desert eagle of yours can knockout a helicopter?"

"Only one way to find out." came the reply as the man in question leaned out of the window to take a pot shot at the flying pest, only to duck back in side as a scolding blast of plasma cam flying past. "Well the good news is that they're not decepticons." commented Jack evenly as he started returning fire with his weighty side arm.

"And the bad news?" questioned Optimus distractedly as he kept his focus on the winding road ahead.

"They're packing energy weapons." there was a long silence as the autobots processed this information.

"What do you advise Jack?" rumbled Prime. "I would personally prefer keeping human causalities to a minimum, but if that is not possible, then I would like your opinion on the best course of action." the man glanced out of the rear view mirror as he quickly weighed the available options.

"I can deal with the cars no problem, the risk comes from their return fire, do you mind your trailer taking a few hits?" questioned Jack as he watch Bumblebee playing tag with a couple of their pursuers.

"That shouldn't be a problem; I do foresee some potential danger for both Arcee and the device if we take too much damage however."

"I'll be fine Optimus." interrupted the fem as she butted in on the conversation "The sooner we deal with the problem, the sooner we can go home."

"As you wish Arcee." replied the superior. "Start whenever you're ready Agent." He said.

"Understood." countered the human as he leaned out of the window. "Let's get this done." the first shot cracked the leading vehicles windscreen, sending jagged shrapnel hurtling into the interior and the occupants, who let out painful screams as the glass bit into them, the second and third shots quickly cut that short as the now driverless motorcar veered sharply to one side to the road before crashing through the safety barrier and vanishing from view as it careened into the deep gorge that ran along one side of the highway.

"Not bad shooting." chuckled Fowler as he looked on approvingly "You ever considered a career in the army?"

"I could never get used to the uniform" countered the man as he lined up his next victim, right up until the on board radio crackled into life.

"I thought that someone looked familiar." commented an all to recognizable voice. "Long time, no see Jackie." the agent grimaced.

"That you Bishop?" demanded the individual coldly as he exchanged looks with his fellow occupant of the cabin. "And here I thought my day couldn't get any worse." a humourless chuckle echoed out over the speaker.

"You should know by now Agent, it can always get worse." responded the old acquaintance smuggle. "Though I have to admit when I'd heard that you'd gone rogue I'd always hoped that we'd get the chance to meet again face to face for old time's sake."

"Bullshit." snorted the man as he glanced up at the helicopter. "The only reason you'd do that would be to put a bullet through my face yourself."

"Guilty as charged." commented the unseen speaker levelly.

"What are you doing here Bishop, don't tell me that they want this stupid thing?" declared Jack sharply as his normally lengthy patience finally ran out.

"I work for myself now Agent, both I and M.E.C.H will change the face of the world." Jack snorted dismissively at the statement.

"Please, the only way that you would leave them is when they dragged your rotting corpse out the front door."

"That is something for me to know and for you to be deeply disappointed about." countered the man smugly. "But I won't keep you any longer. I'd hate to ruin your tearful reunion."

"I did not like the sound of that." muttered Fowler uneasily as the line went dead.

"Neither did I." added Jack grimly as he quickly reloaded his firearm. "Prime you better get ready, something pretty bad is about to happen."

"Understood Agent." rumbled the autobot as he took noticed of his cabin door opening. "Where will you be?"

"Outside, but don't worry, I've done this kind of thing before." explained the man as he vanished from view.

"The guy has experience fighting on top of moving trucks?" muttered the other agent quietly. "And people think that I'm weird."

* * *

The wind whipped up the man coats as he calmly clambered onto the top of the speeding truck.

"Arcee can you hear me?" stated Jack over the deafening roar.

"I read you, what's going on?" questioned the fembot interestedly.

"My former employers turned up." Was his reply.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, no mistake. Its them, an old associate of mine was leading the so called 'terrorist' organization, it's an old trick of theirs, set up a dummy organization and make them do all the dirty work while they hide in the shadows." explained the human as he glanced back over his shoulder at the way they'd came. "It never fails."

"By the Allspark who did you used to work for?" muttered Arcee over the com-link "They sound more like one of your human governments then a private organization"

"That sounds about right." Commented Jack distractedly as he scanned the horizon. "They kind of run the world after all."

"They what!" yelled the autobot.

"Now you see why I warned you not to mess with them." Countered the human as he snapped off a shot at one of the muscle cars that strayed too close. "My former employers are not the kind of people you want to piss off."

"No but seriously, these people run the whole world, I didn't think that was possible." stammered Arcee disbelievingly. "Why haven't we ever heard about this?" she added.

"Because they like to keep people in the dark, that goes double for cybertronians, they're not exactly your biggest fans." unfortunately any further conversation was quickly cut short as there came a high pitched roar from somewhere in the backfield.

"Look sharp, we've got enemy reinforcements." Stated Bulkhead as the alert echoed out of the team channel.

" ** _I see them._** " bleeped Bumblebee " ** _One human riding a motorbike, and they're burning rubber to catch us._** "

"Can you confirm the riders' gender, is it female?" Questioned Jack sharply as he snapped his head around to get a better look at the new arrival.

" _ **It's hard to tell they keep moving in and of my optical view, but I'd say they look female, why?**_ "

"Shit" the agent didn't say anything else as he planted himself firmly onto the top of the cargo container.

"What was that?" Shouted Arcee as she heard a deep thud rumbling out from somewhere above her head.

"Magnetic clamps." replied the human quietly as he keep his gaze locked on the lone dot that was rapidly gaining on them. "Arcee, you need to get ready" the bot took notice of the man's tone; it was cold, unyielding, like she was talking to another person.

"Jack what's wrong, who are they?" there was a long pause before the line crackled back into life once more.

"My old partner." he didn't add anything after that, even if he'd wanted to it was lost as sounds of battle quickly enveloped them.

* * *

"By Uncle Sam's beard it sounds like the fourth of July outside, what the hell is Jack playing at?" demanded Fowler as he heard the deafening roar of the fellow agent's sidearm, defused in between the high powered whine of the attackers PDW.

"It would seem the agent is engaging the enemy motorcyclist that's trying to catch up with us." Explained the Prime steadily as he ploughed onwards towards their intended target destination.

"How's he doing?" enquired the passenger as he watched a couple of green muscle cars dodge past their rear guard with experienced ease. "I only ask because he's going to have some extra company really soon."

"It would seem to be a stalemate at the moment." replied the autobot leader as they screeched around a narrow bend

"Think he'll win?"

"I have full confidence in Jacks abilities Agent Fowler." came the reply. "As should you"

* * *

"Dammit just stay still!" snarled Jack over the roar of battle as he fired round after round into the approaching threat, who somehow managed to evaded every attack with infuriating grace.

"Must have gotten some reflex upgrades." the man muttered as the motorbike slipped effortlessly past Bulkhead and thundered towards the truck. "Prime, if you've got any more power in that engine of yours I suggest you use it." barked the agent as he slowly put away his sidearm, it was useless by this point at both of them knew it as he sure the rider do the same with her own weapon.

"Unfortunately that is not possible agent; any increases in acceleration will risk losing control of the trailer."

"Which is a bad thing!" added Fowler as he joined in on the conversation.

"That's just peachy." muttered Jack as he watched the motorcyclist drawing level with the rear end of the container. "Just giving all a heads up I'm going to be distracted for a few minutes so no talking to me if you don't mind, not unless it's vital to the success of the mission." added the agent as he slowly pulled himself up to his full height and silently watched the rider emerge on top of the swaying container.

"Jack."

"Sam." the rider huffed slightly.

"I wish you wouldn't call us that." stated the woman evenly as she pulled the helmet off from round her face, revealing her Eurasian dominate features to the world. "You know how she feels about it." Jack let out a dismissive snort.

"And I should care why?" he countered coldly. "The last time we met your better half threw me off a bridge."

"I won't be as lenient this time." Commented his old comrade as two long combat blades slowly slipped out through the leather of her reinforced jacket.

"That makes two of us sweetheart." Countered Jack as he popped his own melee weapons.

"Oh I'm going to enjoy this!" Snarled Sam as she lunched herself forwards at a brake neck pace.

"Still hot headed I see." muttered the man as the two of them clashed in a shower of sparks in the middle of the narrow space. "Didn't she tell you to keep your temper under control?" his fellow agent laughed evilly as she parried an upward slash aimed at her midriff, before answering with one of her own that was quickly blocked as they locked combat blades.

"You'll be amazed what five years will do to someone." She chuckled "Now she's almost as bad as me."

"None of which has anything to do with _your_ influence I take it." Replied Jack coldly as he ducked under a kick to the face that would have rearranged his features if it had connected.

"Why don't you ask her yourself" Challenged the woman as there came the unmistakable sound of a T-cog shifting into high gear as something unmistakable large came crashing down onto the back of the speeding truck, sending the entire vehicle swaying from side to side as Optimus struggled to keep everything level.

"Jack, what's happening back there?" demanded Prime sharply as he kept his optics fixed fully on the winding road ahead.

"Like I said." commented the agent evenly as he locked eyes with the turquoise blue fembot that was even in kneeling loomed over him. "My old partner turned up." he pulled his sunglasses from his face. "Hey there, Chromia you look well." the slender bot allowed a small smile to grace her faceplate.

"Jack it's good to see you again, it seems your time away from the organization hasn't affected you too badly" She cast a probing glance over him. "Though I see that some of your tech is a bit outdated."

"It kind of comes with the territory." replied the man as he slowly readied himself for the coming storm. "On the off chance that it works I couldn't, perhaps, persuade you to leave, for old time sake?" the bot shook her head.

"You know that I can't, even if your my younger sisters new partner." the agent raised a rather surprised eyebrow.

"You don't say, I thought she seemed familiar" answered the lone figure as he let out a small chuckle. "Though I've got to say you seemed to have inherited all the people skills in your family."

"Unfortunately the particular honor belongs to our eldest sister Elite One" Stated Chromia as an air of finality crept into the conversation. "I was always the more direct minded one."

"A trait both you and Arcee share apparently." Countered the man grimly as he slowly readied himself. "Shall we?" the fem nodded

"I think we shall."

* * *

"By Primus what's going on out there?" shouted Arcee into her communicator as she was jumbled around like a pebble inside of a washing machine. "Jack? Someone!" the line cracked into live as Bee answered.

" ** _Sorry Cee we're a bit busy back here._** " bleeped the scout distractedly as there came the sound a crashing metal over the com-link.

"You guys need any help?" she questioned sharply as she glanced at the roof of the container mere inches above her head.

"We've got this under control lieutenant, besides you've got bigger things to worry about." countered Bulkhead loudly.

"Do I even want to know?" groaned the fem.

"Probably, that human bike, well it turned out to be a cybertronian like us, and uh, let's just say she and Jack apparently have some history."

"He what!" roared the autobot as she spun her head around to glare unbelievably at the metal surface above her just in time to catch site of an all too familiar servo came crashing down through the quarter of an inch thick steel plate. "Jack!"

"I'm a bit busy right now Cee!" Snarled the agent as his voice echoed down through the hole.

"He really is." cackled as another unseen human as the unknown attack pulled their protruding limb back out through the gaping tear. "Just be good little bright spark and stay out of the way." the fem went cold as she heard a name that she'd hadn't been called in centuries being spoken out loud.

"How do you know that name!" she bellowed as she craned her head so the she could see up through the hole. "Tell me!"

"I would heed her advice if I were you." answered a worryingly familiar tone from somewhere above her.

"Chromia?" she stammered.

"Hey little sister." Replied the elder sibling evenly. "Been a long time, how you been?"

"What are you doing here?" spluttered the younger autobot as she attempted the wrap her command module around the revelation.

"I think it's rather obvious!" shouted Jack over the din of battle. "They're here to steal the bloody D.N.G.S!" that earned him a rather loud snort from his fellow agent.

"Seriously? That what it's called, who comes up with these names?" laughed Sam as she traded blows with her old comrade.

"You're preaching to the choir." replied the man as he slammed an elbow into the attackers face, sending her stagger backwards, swearing profusely.

"Is he being honest sister, have you really betrayed the cause?" Whispered Arcee softly, she didn't get a reply.

* * *

 **Hello, I hope you all liked the new chapter, I defiantly liked writing it.  
**

 **Please review if able, it takes a lot of energy and time to write my stories, so I politely ask that if you are able please leave a comment at the bottom, it really means so much to me when I get reviews, even if its just a thank you it real means a lot.  
**

 **See you all next time.**

 **Gods-own.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 8**

It was deathly quiet in the base that night, no one really felt like talking and considering what exactly had happened it was rather understandable; didn't stop Jack from taking a leisurely stroll up to the roof however.

"Kind of figured I'd find you up here." commented the agent levelly as he caught sight of the blue and pink fem who sat curled up in a corner of the space.

"Did you know?" she whispered suddenly as he drew close.

"Did I know who she was? Yes, did I know she was your sister? No" responded the man as he sat down next to her, there was a long silence as the pair stared up at the midnight sky.

"How are you doing?" questioned Arcee softly as she stayed gazing out into space. "About the whole coming out thing I mean?" she hastily spluttered in clear embarrassment.

"Smooth Cee really smooth." snorted the Agent as he pulled a relatively empty packet of cigarettes out from a coat pocket.

"I thought you picked up a fresh carton this morning?" stated the bot mild confusion.

"It's been a rather stressful day." grumbled Jack as he popped one end in-between his lips.

"Ha, if that's not the understatement of the century." muttered his partner.

* * *

 _Earlier that day:_

 _"I suggest you jump." stated Chromia coldly as her right servo transformed into a menacing looking cannon._

 _"Oh come on!" shouted the augmented human in disbelief as he saw the weapon appear. "When the hell did you get that?" his fellow agent let out a smug chuckle as she punched him in the gut._

 _"We got it installed last year, got to say, I always wanted to give it a proper test run" admitted Sam as she ducked out of the way of a slashing counter attack. "Let's dance Chro!"_

 _"Love to." rumbled the imposing fembot as she pulled herself up to her full height._

 _"Chromia I strongly advise against this course of action, no matter who you are now, you were once an autobot, do not risk innocent lives!" declared Prime loudly as he joined in on the conversation._

 _"Good thing then that I'm aiming at you then!" countered the turncoat as she levelled the weapon at the truck cabin._

 _"No!" in hindsight it probably hadn't been wise of Arcee to suddenly shift her entire weight to one side, it definitely hadn't been fantastic when Optimus franticly attempted to counter the dangerous lean. It worked; it worked rather to well as it sent the four opponents somersaulting through the air as they lost their footing._

 _"Arcee, Jack!"_

 _"Don't worry about us, we can take care of ourselves!" Arcee shouted over the com link as the two of them tumbled down the side of the narrow river valley. "Complete the mission!"_

 _"Affirmative." rumbled Prime on the over end of the line. "Stay safe you two."_

 _"Fuck that hurt." groaned Jack wearily as he finally came to crashing halt upside down at the base of a tree._

 _"Got to agree with you there." muttered Sam as she pulled herself upright. "We're getting too old for this shit." the agent let out as low moan as she flexed an aching shoulder joint, unfortunately the relative stillness was shattered as the crashing of metal on metal filled the air._

 _"Please sister I don't want to fight you!" Pleaded Arcee, her voice echoing over the sounds of battle._

 _"Then you will lose." came the cold reply as a pained yell quickly followed._

 _"Well, looks like we better get back to it huh?" stated Sam lazily as she popped her combat blades._

 _"And I was so enjoying our chat." lamented Jack as he did the same._

* * *

 _"I don't understand, why are you doing this?" Arcee exclaimed in clear confusion as she fended off her older siblings brutal attacks. "Chromia!"_

 _"It's far too late for words sister, if you will not fight then you will fall." replied the cybertronian grimly as she lashed out with a right hook that sent the pink and blue bot staggering backwards. "I thought I'd taught you that."_

 _"You did." sighed Arcee sadly as she wiped the blue stream of energon the spilled slowly out from a ruined lip. "So are we really going to do this?"_

 _"We don't have much choice." came the reply. "You have your orders and I have mine." the younger sibling sighed sadly as she slowly summoned her wrist blades to her aid._

 _"Please forgive me for doing this." The request made Chromia smile ever so slightly._

 _"There's nothing to forgive Cee." she whispered as the pair fell into their preferred combat stances. "This is just bad luck, nothing more nothing less."_

 _And they charged._

* * *

 _"Sound like they've gotten serious." state Sam distractedly as she dodged under a savage horizontal slash to deliver one of her own towards her one time colleague, who let out a pained snarl as the attack bite home ever so slightly._

 _"I forgot how chatty you are." snapped Jack angrily as he batted away a follow-up thrust to his stomach before slamming a kneecap into the woman's unguarded groin, earning him a satisfying groan from his opponent as she hastily backtracked to give herself some much need breathing space._

 _"Nice to see that you're just as cheap a fighter as ever." muttered the female agent as she dragged herself upright._

 _"I play to win old friend, you know that." replied the man as he dashed forwards once more, blades glinting evilly midday sun._

 _"I do to handsome." spat Sam as she danced around her more powerful foe, hacking away at his defences at every turn until the ground was coated in a fine layer of blood and sweat. "Ready to give up yet?" she teased._

 _"Not on your life." snapped Jack as he let himself exhale before settling down into a far more aggressive stance. "Now stop flapping your lips and get serious, I'm tired of messing around with you. I've got better things to do with better looking women." the remark earned him a cascade of curse words that would have made a sailor blush as his old partner launched herself at him once again._

 _"Ever the charmer Sam, ever the charmer." muttered Jack dismissively as he punched the woman hard in the face, breaking her nose and sending blood spilling out in all directions as she was sent somersaulting away and into the surrounding undergrowth, unfortunately he didn't get much time to enjoy his victory as there came a pained yell, quickly followed by the unmistakable form of his current teammate as she came crashing through the nearby tree line towards him._

 _"All debts are paid Jack." stated Chromia pointedly as she came stomping towards the lone human, cold vengeance clearly visible in her optics._

 _"I hate my life." stated the agent as he throw himself to safety as a split second later a massive reinforced fist came crashing down to earth, shattering the surrounding landscape and sending the man slamming with bone shuddering force into a nearby tree._

 _"I could say that I didn't enjoy doing this but that'd be lying." the renegade autobot raised her imposing looking arm cannon. "Good bye."_

 _"No you don't!" snarled Arcee as she came crashing out of nowhere and into her older sibling with a deafening thud._

 _"You were always a stubborn one Cee." snapped the fembot as she ducked under a right hook to slam an elbow into the side of her fellow cybertronians head. "But sometimes you have to learn when you're beat."_

 _"You first!" snapped the younger bot as she head butted her surprised sister in the faceplate savagely before following it up with an uppercut that sent her sprawling onto the broken earth below._

 _"I will destroy you!" the threat cut through the air like lightning as Sam came charging back into the fray, slashing at the lone autobot who desperately attempted to defend herself against the more agile opponent._

 _"I don't want to hurt you human." declared Arcee forcefully as she fended off attacks with her wrist weapons. "Stand down!"_

 _"I stopped being human a long time ago!" snarled the enraged woman as she dragged one of her wickedly sharp blade across the fems exposed shin, earning her a pained groan for her effort. "Now shut up and fight!"_

 _"If you insist." stated Jack loudly as he decloaked in front of her, his own blades already in motion._

 _"Do you really think that I'd forgotten about you Jack?" declared Chromia sharply as she shot off a quick blast of plasma that sent both agents rolling in opposite directions._

 _"Keep him pinned I'll deal with Arcee." declared Sam as she darted off at a dead sprint._

 _"It will be a cold day in hell before that trick works on me!" roared the man as he vanished in a blur of speed as he moved to intercept his fellow human, all the while dodging around the near constant cannon fire that was being sent his way._

 _"I'm really starting to regret not finishing you off back in basic training." snarled the female agent as she dodged to one side to avoid the attack that was attempting to separate her head from her body._

 _"Trust me, the feeling is more than mutual right about now." spat Jack as he blocked the predictable counter-attack that was sent hurtling out his way. "Now shut up and fight!" and fight they did in a brutal display of violence as the old comrade's hack away at each other with cold, ruthless abandonment until both of them stood bruised and bloodied._

 _"Why won't you die!" Bellowed Sam angrily as she lashed out in clear frustration at her opponent, something that she quickly regretted as the enemy agent grabbed hold of the offending limb before bringing down his own blade on the exposed joint, shattering it at the elbow and coating the ground in a thick layer energon as the various fluids contained within the prosthetic poured out uncontrollably._

 _"No!" the heart wrenching shriek ripped the air asunder as Chromia came barrelling into the melee, smashing the victorious challenger to one side as she scooped up her injured partner, who had slumped to the ground, weakly grasping at her ruined stump. "Just hold on babe, we're getting you out of here, just hold on!" the light blue bot tore her gaze away from the augment human to stare cold murder at the two reluctant foes. "I'll make you pay for this Jack, you hear me, I'll make you pay!" as soon as the words had left her audio box the entire area was flooded with blinding white smoke as the rogue autobot triggered some kind of defence mechanism as she beat a hasty retreat leaving the nothing but bitterness and regret in her wake._

* * *

 _They'd eventually regrouped with the rest of the team, who had somehow managed to complete their mission objective even if they'd been severely undermanned. Bulkhead and Bumblebee had been their rather usual overexcited selves as the pair had crowded around their lieutenant as soon as they caught sight of her lumbering form, Optimus on the other hand had been strangely quiet as he cast a concerned optic to this second-in-command before turning his full attention towards the sunglass wearing human, who had been keeping a respectful distance from the reunion._

 _"Are you injured Jack?" Enquired the team leader as he knelt down to get a better look at their organic companion. "It appears the two of you faced quite the battle."_

 _"It's nothing that I've haven't faced before." countered the agent dismissively as he flexed a stiff shoulder joint on reflex. "Did the drop go as planned?" the towering mech nodded grimly._

 _"The transfer of the generator went as smoothly as possible considering what happened." stated the Prime evenly as he looked the agent up and down._

 _"It's obvious you don't want to talk about it now. However," the titan indicated with a digit towards the glint of metal that could be seen showing through tears in the man's coat selves. "I think it would be wise if we discuss some things that have come to my attention." the agent nodded in grim understanding before letting out a tired sigh._

 _"Fine, but can we do this after we get back to base, I get the feeling that I'll need to have a long talk with Arcee before too long."_

 _"That would be much appreciated." rumbled the imposing cybertronian as he slowly rose back to his full height. "Ratchet, we are ready to ground bridge."_

 _"Roger that Optimus, standby."_

* * *

Back in the present:

"I take it Ratchet hasn't been told about what transpired on the mission just yet." commented the fem quietly.

"What was your first clue?" snorted the man as he pulled the sunglasses from his face as he gently needed his tired eyes.

"The fact that I can't hear himt bellowing is kind of a give a way." she chuckled softly before falling silent quite once more.

"You want to talk about Chromia don't you." stated Jack after a long pause.

"She...she seems so different, more emotional somehow, I always remembered her being so level headed, even on the battlefield, what could have changed?" the bot glanced down at her sisters former partner. "Do you know?"

"I do." replied the man, a note of regret slipping into his tone. "Before we start I better explain some stuff before we get into the nitty-gritty of the current situation."

"Does it have something to do with my sisters strange behaviour?" questioned Arcee in clear interest.

"It's tied into it yes." came the reply as the Agent took a long drag on his cigarette. "As you've probably guessed your sister and I were partners, back in the days when I still worked for the Illuminati."

"The what?" stated the fembot in mild confusion.

"The Illuminati, it's the powerful organization that I've been warning you about." explained Jack disinterestedly as he glanced up at the night sky. "I've been avoiding telling you their name in case you say it by accident and one of their members heard you. They're not exactly fans of people knowing about them." the bot raised a questioning brow plate.

"And that would be a bad thing why?" she challenged. "It's not like I can't look after myself." the agent groaned as he picked up on the fiery determination that had crept back into her audio box.

"My former employers aren't the kind of people that you want to underestimate Arcee." he warned pointedly as he jabbed a finger at the towering figure. "The Illuminati are everywhere, anyone could be working for them, that's what makes them so powerful, you can never be truly safe, people you think are your friends turn out to be your enemy, places of safety turn out to be death traps." he let out a low sigh as he ran a metal hand through his short hair. "Be careful were you stand Arcee because in this environment you can quickly find yourself on quick sand."

"You seem to managing okay." countered the Autobot pointedly, only to fall quiet as the augmented human erupted in deep, guttural laughter.

"Is that how it looks to you?" snorted Jack as he attempted not to choke on his cigarette.

"Because trust me it's not. I'm actually kinda floundering here." a long silence descended as his partner seemingly absorbed this information. "But we're getting off track, we were talking about your sister." the remark seemed to knock the bot out of her contemplation as she turned her full attention back towards her partner.

"You said that the two of you were partners when you worked for them." the man nodded "But I got the impression that you used to be partnered with that other human as well." Jack grimaced ever so slightly.

"Yes there's a reason for that." admit Jack quietly as he ran a hand over his eyes. "Do you remember me telling you that not many people managed to become agents?" the Autobot flinched ever so slightly at the memory.

"I do."

"Well I'll shed some more light on that." explained the human bitterly. "You see the good doctor liked to conduct experiments on us potential agents." he paused ever so slightly as he glanced up at the towering figure as if trying to gauge her possible reaction "Your sister and Sam were one such experiment." the cybertronian's optics went wide.

"He experimented on my sister?" she roared heatedly.

"He experimented on a lot of people," Countered Jack emotionlessly "Your sister was one of the few that came out of it relatively stable"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better!" snarled the Autobot as she glared down at the augmented human. "Because it doesn't." her partner let out a long sigh.

"Well it should" muttered the agent "Because I've seen what happens to those who aren't" he fell silent once more, a look of pained regret plastered heavily across his face.

"I'm sorry I made you remember something unpleasant didn't I?" whispered Arcee ashamedly as she looked away in clear embarrassment.

"Not your fault, you didn't know." grumbled Jack as he rubbed the back of his head. "Do you mind if we don't discuss this right now it's not something I particularly feel like explaining to you at the moment" the fem nodded in understanding as the pair slipped back into uneasy silence.

"So what did this Gearshift do to my sister?" questioned the titan quietly as she attempted to keep the anger out of her audio box.

"Linked consciousness." came the grim reply. "Think of it as one mind sharing two bodies." the agent picked up on the confusion that was dancing across the fembot's faceplate. "Ok, let me put it this way, did you notice that every once in a while that Chromia seemed to flinch in pain or get distracted by something that wasn't there?"

"Now that you mention it..." murmured the Autobot thoughtfully, "She did seem less focused."

"It's rather hard to keep fixed on something when you've got someone else's experience pouring into your head." commented Jack as he lit another cigarette. "When they're together they can operate in perfect sync, the ultimate team. The main down side of their link is that they feel each other's pain." he jabbed a metallic finger at his chest. "Kind of why Chromia was trying to tear my head off, they really don't like the other one getting hurt."

"She did seem much more emotional, is that tied in with this link you mentioned? " the agent noticeably flinched at the question.

"Yeah, I was going to mention that." admitted Jack in a rare appearance in his case, of embarrassment as he looked away from the Autobot. "Look, Sam was never the most level headed of people even before the experiment, I think it's kind of bleeding over into your sister's personality." declared the agent uneasily, "And don't ask me what that means because I don't know, I haven't seen either of them in years."

"Well I can say for certain that Chromia seems angrier than she used to be, either that or completely detached, she seemed to jump back and forth between the two so much that I couldn't tell." commented the fembot as she looked up at the night sky. "If we got her to Ratchet, do you think he could help her?" her tone was almost pleading.

"I don't know Cee, the only one that really knows what's going on in your sisters command module is Gearshift, and we're sure as hell not going to get involved with him if I have anything to say about it." declared the human forcefully as he fixed her with a warning glare. "I'm serious Arcee you don't know what this bot is capable of!" she could tell that her partner wasn't going to budge on the topic.

"Fine, but I'm not going to just give up on helping my sister Jack." countered the imposing individual sharply. "Maybe Ratchet knows something that could help, Optimus said that he knew Gearshift quite well back when they were both doctors on cybertron" that got the man's attention.

"Is that so?" he murmured "Looks like I should have a word with the chief medic of ours."

"He isn't your enemy Jack." stated the pink and blue bot forcefully as she picked up on the cold undercurrent in the man's tone "And he isn't responsible for what Gearshift did to you, from what Optimus said it sounds like that rust bucket was never really on anybody's side from the get-go."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" snapped the augmented human as he repeated the same question that she'd earlier asked him.

"No, but I want you to understand that not every cybertronian you meet is going to be like Gearshift and his ilk, we're all unique individuals after all" the human let a low snort as he stared off into the distance.

"No promises." he muttered.

"And here I thought you'd come up here to offer _me_ emotional support, not the other way around." she teased as the pair got to their feet.

"I think I liked you more when you hated me." grumbled Jack as he felt his back pop as he stretched.

"Was I really that bad?" enquired Arcee as they headed back towards the waiting elevator.

"Are you joking?" countered the Agent in disbelief as he shot her a sideways glance. "Because I can't tell."

"I'm being serious." stated the bot in growing frustration. "I was distant yeah, but I didn't hate you." the remark drew a bout of laughter out of her human partner as he heard it.

"And here I thought I was the person with poor people skills." he snorted as he court the look of embarrassment that was painted on the fem's faceplate.

"Shut up meatbag." muttered the Autobot unhappily as she pressed the waiting button.

"It's a good thing that at one of us is professional." stated Jack as the lift rumbled back into life.

"I so hate you right now." grumbled Arcee.

* * *

 **Hello, I hope you all liked it and yes I know this chapter was a little shorter then the rest but it felt right to end it here.  
**

 **Please review if able, it takes a lot of energy and time to write my stories, so I politely ask that if you are able please leave a comment at the bottom, it really means so much to me when I get reviews, even if its just a "thank you" it real means a lot to as a writer.  
**

 **See you all next time.**

 **Gods-own.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 9**

"I take it something happened?" stated Ratchet quietly as he came to a halt next to his longtime friend and leader. "Both Bulkhead and Bumblebee are noticeably quiet about the exact details of the mission, I take it that was under your instruction?" the red and blue mech nodded in agreement as he revealed his involvement in the decision.

"I decided it was for the best." rumbled the Prime "A number of things occurred during the assignment that I believe need to be discussed."

"And you didn't want wild speculation to cloud individual judgements." finished the chief medical officer as he put the dots together. "Is it that bad?"

"I don't know." came the steady reply. "But I do now that we cannot tear ourselves apart with self-doubt, now that a new faction has been revealed."

"I will admit I didn't foresee the humans being already aware of our presence." murmured the old mech "And their cannibalization of our technology is . . . worrying, it hints at either a frightening ability to adapt by our new opponents or more worrisome that there may be cybertronians willingly developing technology for them."

"I suspected the same." commented Optimus grimly "But at this exact moment in time I am more concerned about my second-in-command, the revelation of her older sisters betrayal will have hit her understandably hard, Arcee was always extremely close to her family." Ratchet grimaced.

"I still can't believe it, out of all the fembots I knew, Chromia was one of the most loyal to the cause." he muttered.

"It is as Agent Jack mentioned earlier, conflict changes people, I wonder just how many of our old comrades in arms have lost themselves in this war." the towering titan sighed quietly. "I fear that it is far too many." the pair fell silent for a long moment.

"I take it that we're waiting for our human observer to return before we start this debriefing." stated the smaller mech as he broke the oppressive atmosphere.

"Jack has earned his place as a member of this team." declared their leader unflinchingly "There are some questions that I wish to ask him, but at this exact moment he's performing a far more important task." the medic raised a brow plate in mild disbelief.

"I don't mean to sound disrespectful Optimus, but is that wise?" the titan glanced up at the ceiling. "I was under the opinion that those two didn't function well with each other outside of an operational capacity."

"It would seem that they've managed to come to an understanding of sorts with each other." explained the Prime, an air of approval clearly visible around him. "I am glad to see that my intuition to pair those two was correct."

"Guidance from the Matrix?" questioned the chief medical officer.

"It would seem so." came the reply, which was quickly drowned out by the mechanical grinding as the cargo elevator came trundling back down into the base.

"Let's get this over with then." muttered Jack as the unlikely duo came striding out of the cramped space.

"For once I agree with the human." grumbled the old medic as he folded the servos his chest plate. "Can we finally stop dancing around the topic and get down to the matter at hand?"

"That is up to the Agent." countered Prime as he looked unflinchingly at the smallest member of their little group. "Do you have something to tell us Jack?" it wasn't really a question and everyone knew it.

"Where do you want me to start?" Replied the human as he slowly pulled the sunglasses from his face.

* * *

"Scrap me." murmured Bulkhead as the augmented human finished his rather brief explanation of what exactly had occurred on the last assignment.

" _ **Sir**_." bleeped the lead scout as he glanced over towards his superior.

"I know Bumblebee." rumbled the towering mech grimly as he glanced down at the lone techno-organic that stood quietly before them. "I too am concerned by these shocking revelations." the cybertronian let out a long sigh before turning his full attention to the waiting agent. "For what it's worth Jack we are all deeply grateful for this information and humbled that you would trust us with your most precious secret, I promise you that your trust will not be misplaced." the man nodded coldly as he accepted the statement with silent resignation.

"You can see why I wasn't comfortable with tell the others about this Sir" commented the femme as she joined in on the conversation. "It didn't feel right"

"Indeed" the Prime looked over at his second in command with clear approval. "I am glad to see that you're so concerned about your partner's well-being Arcee, it speaks highly of you." the slender bot's faceplate darkened noticeably at the compliment.

"Thank you sir." she stammered.

"Ratchet are you feeling all right?" suddenly declared the wrecker as his worried tone cut through the reassuring atmosphere, shattering it as the other Autobot's quickly caught sight of their chief medical officer glaring in cold concentration at the augmented human before him, who to his credit didn't flinch away from returning the gesture in full.

"Ratchet." warned Arcee as she took a protective step towards her partner

"I take it from your explanation that there are sections of your past that you've failed to elaborate on?" asked the autobot sharply as he fixed the man with a sharp look. "Is that correct?"

"Yes it is." growled the smaller individual sharply his gaze turning hard. "Is that going to be a problem?" it was a clear challenge and one that the other onlookers were desperate to avoid as they readied themselves for the confrontation, which never materialized as the medical expert let out a loud huff before turning towards is improvised sickbay.

"Come with me." the statement earned him a perplexed stare from the subject of the comment as he raised a questioning eyebrow in clear confusion.

"Why should I?" Challenged the Agent uneasily as he exchanged bewildered looks with the fembot.

"Because I'm this team's medic." countered the mech as he glanced back over his left shoulder pad at the duo. "And I have a responsibility it care for all those that work alongside us, not matter who or what they are." he added pointedly "Now get over to the examination table so I can get a better look at you, you _are_ injured after all." Jack grimaced as he caught the wide-eyed stares that were being sent his way by the rest of the team.

"You're what!" snapped Arcee as she placed her hands on her hip joints in clear disapproval. "Why didn't you tell me!" the man had the decency to look embarrassed for once as he failed to meet her concerned gaze.

"It slipped my mind." he muttered unconvincingly.

"Seriously, that your excuse!?" countered his partner angrily. "What are you thinking?"

"That's enough Arcee." stated Ratchet as he made his opinion known. "You can shout at him as much you like during his examination" he glared at the over Autobot's "The rest of you have much better things to do, correct?" the onlookers quickly scattered as they found over things that seemingly required their full attention. "Good, now if you wouldn't mind Agent, can you please come over here and make yourself comfortable, I'm sure Arcee will assist you if you have any difficulty reaching the top of the bench."

"I don't need any help." Muttered the man sharply as he ignored the teasing smirk that darted across his partners face and quickly made his way to the indicated spot.

"That's good to hear." replied the doctor distractedly as he rummaged through the multitude of items and objects that were crammed in around his cluttered workspace. "That would indicate that your injuries are only superficial." the man flinched as he felt the pink and blue bots heated glare drilling into the back of his head. "I'm going to need you to strip." the statement ushered in a deafening silence as Arcee's optics nearly popped out of their sockets in stunned surprise.

"Excuse me?" the medical expert looked back at his patient with professional clarity, ignoring the hard look that was welded onto the man's face.

"Your clothing incorporates materials that interference with scans correct?" the agent nodded.

"That's correct." he growled "What of it?"

"I need to be able to take a detailed scan so I can format a reliable medical file of your current physical health for future use, now strip and lie down on the examination table!" Ratchet ordered, his temper quickly wearing thin, the order didn't go down well as a wave of clear, intense, hatred flashed across Jack's features as he heard it.

"The last time I was 'examined' by an Autobot doctor, he ripped me limb from limb. I won't go through that again!" Jack spat as he drew his sidearm.

"Jack that's enough!" spluttered Arcee as she hastily attempted to calm her emotionally troubled co-worker. "Ratchet he doesn't mean it." the femme quickly added as she glanced over towards the aged medical expert in clear concern.

"It's ok Arcee, I don't mind." countered the red and white mech as he lowered himself until he was at optic level with the bristling human in front of him. "I am and always will be a doctor Jack." rumbled the titan quietly as he's digits creaked under the strain as he formed from into fists by his side. "An actual doctor, not some monster using it as a front for his mad science." his optics blazed in cold fury "I took an oath, as did Gearshift to do no harm to those under our care and what did he do!" he growled "He spat on everything we'd spent millennia diligently upholding!" the mech's faceplate warped into one of chilling disgust "I will never forgive him for what he has done here." the remark sat there in the air like a lump of lead, weighty and immovable for a long moment before the human let out a long sigh.

"Is that so?" declared the Agent quietly as the fire slipped out of his tone, like an early morning tide, leaving nothing but a barren landscape behind. "Then that's something else we can agree on" he glanced down at the polished metal surface beneath him. "Is this going to take long?"

"It will take as long as it takes Jack." replied the medical expert steely "But you will have my word that no harm will befall you while you're in my care."

"I'll hold you to that Doctor." countered the man as he slowly began pulling pieces of clothing from his body, in tired resignation until he stopped suddenly midway.

"What wrong?" questioned his partner as she looked on with clear concern as he glanced up towards her.

"Are you really going to stand there and watch me strip?" he challenged uneasily "Because I don't know how I feel about that." the femme let out a dismissive snort.

"Please like I have any interest in squishy organic anatomy, you'll be fine." she answered smugly.

"Is that so?" Challenged Jack. "So you would have no problems taking off your outer casing and showing me you substructure then?." a dark hazed flashed into existence across the bots faceplate as she heard the statement.

"What!?" she spluttered as her servos instinctively covered her spark chamber in clear example of modesty.

"Well I have no interest in cybertronian biology, so you'll be fine."

"That's not the point, you can't just..." the bot stammered as she attempted to reformat her command module into something usable.

"He has a point Arcee. That's a bit of a double standard." commented the medical professional as he joined in on the conversation. "If you have no problem looking at your partner naked you should allow him the same right." she didn't miss the look of silent amusement that burning brightly in the medics optics.

"I hate both of you so much right now." grumbled the femme as she turned her back on the pair.

"Don't throw scrap around if you can't take it." advised the older mech as he looked back towards his begrudging patient. "Now please strip down and lie flat, this will be over shortly."

"Fine." muttered the man as he pulled the last pieces of his dignity from his person before positioning himself on the icy cold surface.

"You can cover your reproductive organs if you want, if it makes you feel more secure." The old bot said.

"I'm starting to really regret my decision." grumbled Jack's unhappy tone. "You can look around now if you want, I don't mind."

"You sure?" she challenged "I won't make you feel uncomfortable?" there came a sharp laugh that lacked any humour.

"Cee, I spent a large portion of my life being stared at while naked, my modesty died a long time ago." the remark brought an ache to her spark as she heard it, everyone had the right to personal privacy, no one deserved to have it ripped away by force, but Jack had never been given that choice had he, the femme found a new reason to hate the Autobot turn coat even more if that was at all possible.

"That's not something to be proud of Jack." she countered sadly as she turned around to get her first really look at what her partner had been force to endure and what she sure took her breath away; the augmented humans body was crisscrossed with long surgical scars that interlinked to such an extent it looked like he'd been sewn back together piece by piece and judging from the rest of him he probably had been, she couldn't help but flinch as his words echoed back through her command module, they really had taken him apart hadn't they.

"Your augmentation is more extensive then I realized." stated the medic uneasily as he ran a scan over the prone figure in front of him. "How much of your body is cybernetic if you don't mind me asking?" the agent let out a low hum as he fought the question over.

"I'm not really sure, the doctors working under Gearshift probably didn't know exactly how much work was done to me, the doctor tended to tinker with us when he didn't have anything better to do" admitted the man in a matter-of-fact tone "But I think about sixty percent give or take, that sounds about right." the cybertronians visibly flinched at the statistics.

"By the Allspark." muttered Ratchet more to himself than anyone else as he looked away for a long moment. "I'm sorry Jack." the medic whispered as his optics seemed to dime in regret.

"Why, it wasn't your fault" answered the Agent evenly as he gazed up at the ceiling.

"He was one of us, a healer at that. I can't help but feel responsible."

"Well don't" snapped Jack "It's annoying"

"Fine." replied the bot sharply "But don't complain later that I didn't attempt to be understanding." the augmented human snorted dismissively.

"I'd prefer you were your usual uptight self, at least we had a professional understanding."

"Is that so?" questioned the bot "I'll have to remember that." he turned his attention back towards the multitude of cybertronian enhancements that had been inserted into the unwilling recipient. "You don't seem to have any problems with your prosthetics." he commentated. "Is there any residual pain at all?"

"No." came the reply.

"Interesting, I wasn't expecting that." muttered the expert to myself as he glanced over his scans.

"Isn't it a good thing that he isn't in any pain?" Questioned Arcee in clear confusion as she tore he optics away from the matte black limbs that were fused into her partner's body.

"Well of course it's a good thing." snapped the medic. "What I'm trying to ascertain is what kind of strain his augmentations are exerting on his body." he tapped a few times onto his data pad before bringing up a small hologram for the three of them to see.

"I hope you won't go spreading that around" warned the Agent pointedly.

"My people do have understanding of doctor-patient confidentiality Jack." replied Ratchet critically. "Now stay still, it will help the scanner work faster." the man let out a grumbling response but obeyed nonetheless as he let his head drop back down onto the metal surface.

"What was it that you were asking me again?" he enquired "Something about my prosthetics?"

"I was asking you if they put unnecessary strain on your body." clarified the bot in mild exasperation. "Please pay attention agent."

"Too cheap to pay attention." snorted Jack "And to answer your question, no my augmentations don't put unnecessary strain on my body, the doctors at the lab coated my bones at the attachment points with some kind of liquid metal, it helps absorb a lot of the force and stop them from breaking." the remark earned him a questioning expression from the medic as he rasied a brow plate in interest.

"Liquid metal you say?" he murmured as he quickly turned his attention back to the scanner "I wonder." the pair watched with piqued interest as their colleague tapped away madly on the display for a few moments.

"Uh Ratchet..?" Arcee took a step towards her teammate.

"I was right!" Suddenly declared the expert as he snapped his faceplate around to stare at them in smug triumph. "It's sentio metallico!"

"Are you serious?" Spluttered the femme in disbelief as her optics seemed to swell in size exponentially. "Sentio!"

"The stuff your protoforms are made from?" added Jack.

"You know about protoforms?" Questioned Ratchet in mild surprise, the man shrugged.

"All candidates were given a basic overview of cybertronian physiology and culture as part of our indoctrination and training." explained the agent.

"Sounds delightful." muttered Arcee.

"You'll be amazed what becomes interesting when you're trying to distract yourself from reality." came the depressing reply.

"How did Gearshift manage to do this?" suddenly interrupted the medic as he intruded into the conversation, his gaze not leaving his data pad.

"Problem?" enquired the femme uneasily.

"The simple answer is yes." grumbled Ratchet as he glared at the information readout. "More complicated answer is no." he scratched the top of his helmet in confusion. "Theoretically speaking sentio metallico should be able to bond to organic material if the material in question is able to adapt itself quickly enough the situation." he raised a brow plate "But human adults don't have the levels of natural regeneration required for such a surgery to be successful, the only point in your life cycle when such a thing could be possible is..." he fell quiet.

"What, what is it?" demanded Arcee as she glanced between the two figures, who had suddenly fallen silent. "Ratchet, Jack?"

"Go on smart guy." stated the human coldly as he fixed stares with the red and white mech "Say it."

"Say what? What's going on?" countered the femme "Ratchet answer me!"

"The only point in a human life cycle when such a procedure would have a chance of success is in the early phases of development, when the subject's body would be able to rapidly adapt itself to the foreign substance inside of it." explained the medical expert as he looked unable to meet their gaze.

"How early is early?" whispered the bot as she glanced out of the corner of her vision at her partner, who had remained suspiciously quiet during the entire event.

"Younger than Ralph currently is." replied the mech grimly.

"How much younger?" she demanded.

"A lot younger." she grimaced at the response.

"Primus that's just..."

"Inhuman?" Challenged Jack dismissively "Story of my life Cee, you get used to it after a while."

"You should never get used to being treated like this!" snapped the pink and blue bot as she spun around on her pads to glare at the naked human. "This...this..."

"Is wrong." finished Ratchet as throw in his two cents worth. "Even before the war our society had very strict rules about interfering in less technologically advanced civilizations, what Gearshift has done here." he paused briefly "Been allowed to do here goes against all known scientific ethics." a look of rage darted across his faceplate. "I will rip his spark out with my bare hands." the medic glared down at the agent forcefully "I promise you Jack." the man snorted

"Get in line Doc, but I wouldn't get my hopes up, the 'Good' Docter will be heavily protected by the organization, no one is getting to him with without them knowing about it." he let out a tired sigh. "Are we done yet, my back is killing me."

"For now yes." answered the medic evenly "You're fourth and fifth ribs on the left have hairline fractures, I would suggest that you take it easy for a few days but judging from the your record I find that highly unlikely." the man smirked.

"You know me too well Doctor." he chuckled.

"More like I know your type." snorted Ratchet as he glared at Arcee.

"I don't know what you're talking about." declared the Femme defensively as she made it a point to give her partner some privacy as he dressed himself.

"Says the bot who was stupid enough to keep fighting when she had a cracked axle." commented the chief medic disapprovingly.

"You're never going to let that go are you?" muttered the bot grumpily as she let out a long sigh. "Seriously, it was four hundred years ago."

"And you still haven't learned your lesson." came the reply of the medical expert turned his attention back to the data in front of him. "I would appreciate it if you kept an eye on your partner for the rest of the day, just to make sure that his bones heal properly." he glanced at the human. "Another 'gift' from Gearshift I presume." the agent nodded "I'm recommending that you get a couple of days rest, then we'll see if you're fit enough to go back out into the field."

"Whatever you say Doc." replied Jack as he drop off the examination table. "I should be back to full health by the end of the week just letting you know"

"We'll see about that agent" dismissed the red and white mech as he turned his back plate to the pair.

* * *

"Now what have you gone and done to yourself this time my dear?" commented the lavender mech as he glanced down at Sam, who twitched in noticeable pain in front of him.

"Blame Jack, asshole still doesn't know how to pull his punches." growled the woman through clenched teeth as she watched one of her creator spider like limbs reach over from over his back and stab into her neck with a quiet hiss.

"I would expect nothing less from him." chuckled the doctor in understand as he flicked down a magnifying lens in front of one of his optics. "And how is our wayward son?"

"The same annoying piece of shit as always." growled the woman as she felt the mild painkillers kick in. It wasn't enough to actually do anything, not like she's expected it to; the cybertronian in front of her wasn't known for his bedside manner. "He's running with our old crew by the way."

"So I've heard." replied the scientist, pointedly ignoring her particular choice of phrase "The bleed over of memories must be playing up again" he silently contemplated, "Interesting I should test her to see what see remembers." he picked up a sharp looking laser scalpel "Anyone you recognize?" enquired Gearshift as he prepared to remove the damage stump.

"You could say that." came the frosty response.

"Do tell?"

* * *

 **Here is the latest chapter, I hope you all enjoy this newest episode of our tale, I enjoyed writing it.**

 **I would ask that you leave a comment if your able, it would be extremely helpful to know what you the readers think of the story so far, also please remember it takes a lot of time and energy to write my works so it means a lot when I get a review.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed, I'll catch you all next time.**

 **Gods-own  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 10**

"Remind me why I agreed to this again?" Challenged Arcee loudly from her rather well supported seat in the back of the spacecraft.

"Because it was either that or we throw you out of a ground bridge portal and pray." replied her partner dismissively from his spot next to her. "Now settle down and enjoy the ride."

"Ugh, fine." muttered the femme as she slouched down in her spot. "But for the record this was a bad idea!"

" _We know_!" Groaned the rest of the team.

* * *

 _A FEW DAYS EARLIER_

 _"Okay, why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like this meeting?" stated Jack glibly as he strolled into the rather crowded control room, his partner looming over him._

 _"Probably because you won't." grumbled Bulkhead from where he stood leaning against one of the silos walls. "I know I don't."_

 _"That really doesn't fill me with confidence Bulk." countered the pink and blue bot as she grimaced._

 _"It wasn't supposed to." added Ratchet as he along with the remaining Autobots quickly joined them in the conversation._

 _"I take it by the lack of distractions that our young annoyances have been escorted home?" commented Jack levelly._

 _"_ _ **All taken care of**_ _." bleeped Bumblebee as he glanced down at the human "_ _ **We thought it was better if the kids weren't here to hear this.**_ _" the Agent nodded in understanding, the bots had decided that there were some things that the children should be kept ignorant of for their own good, his current situation being one of them, something that he was silently grateful for._

 _"If we are all here let us proceed to the matter at hand" rumbled Optimus Prime as he let his presence be known. "Now before we start I think it will be prudent to explain certain things." the titan gestured towards his old friend to continue the explanation._

 _"Thank you Optimus." stated the chief medic as he turned to get everyone's attention. "Now Bulkhead as already been informed of this due to his habit of getting into close quarters combat with the enemy, the rest of you we decided would be made aware of the current situation only after we had solid evidence of what Megatron was planning"_

 _"And I take it by this little gather that you now do" countered Jack pointedly, a look of clear frustration visible on his face._

 _"I can understand your dissatisfaction Agent." answered the Prime reassuringly. "But given what we're facing I thought it wise not to spread unnecessary panic."_

 _"Is it really that bad, whatever it is Megatron is planning?" questioned Arcee uneasily as she looked around the room._

 _"I was getting to that part, be patient." snapped Ratchet as he took control the conversation once again. "As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted." he glared in disapproval at the agent "I take it that the three of you remember the disturbing events surrounding the strange substance that Arcee was coated in during our failed rescue attempt of Cliffjumper?" the femme flinched at the mention of her former partners name._

 _"_ _ **Didn't it bring a construction arm to life or something? Jack killed it with a fire axe right?**_ _" bleeped the yellow scout as he check his memory core._

 _"Sounds about right." muttered Jack thoughtfully "Didn't you say that you were going to investigate the sludge?"_

 _"Indeed," sighed the specialist "My results were . . . disconcerting."_

 _"I take it that's why we never heard any more about it until now." guessed the second in command as she glanced over at their superior. "What is it exactly?"_

 _"Liquefied dark energon" the statement drew a long, pained groan from the agents lips as he pinched the bridge of his nose._

 _"I take it that you've encountered this substance before." commented Ratchet as he looked towards the human._

 _"Not personally, but I've seen the after effects of its application on augmented test subjects." Jack grimaced as a memory flashed to the forefront of his mind. "The Good Docter went through a phase of experimenting with that stuff on some of his more_ _expendable_ _creations." he ran a gloved hand over his face. "Let's just say that injecting dark energon into living humans has some very...well let's just say disturbing results."_

 _"It has similar effects on us cybertronians" added the medical officer "I would enquire as to its impact on humans but I believe that is a discussion for another time, if it is to be discussed at all."_

 _"I think that would be for the best." rumbled Optimus as he turned to look at his team. "After Ratchet discovered this worrying information the two of us decided to investigate this personally until we were sure what was going on." there was a long pause "As of this morning we have our answer."_

 _"How bad is it?" Questioned Jack resignedly as he light a cigarette._

 _"Megatron is using dark energon to raise an army of undead cybertronians to conquer earth." the statement drew a spluttering cough from the human as he heard it._

 _"Seriously!?" stammered Arcee as he optics went wide in surprise. "As if the cons weren't bad enough already now we're fighting the living dead?"_

 _"_ _ **How many are we talking about?**_ _" questioned Bumblebee "_ _ **There can't be that many cybertronian graves on earth.**_ _"_

 _"There are enough" replied Ratchet coldly "Even if earth wasn't a focal point during the war it still had its fair share of battles and skirmishes as the two sides fought over the control of the planet resources."_

 _"Agreed," declared Prime "Unfortunately Megatrons intention is far more insidious than that." the Autobot let out a long sigh "I believe my former brother in arms has already managed to gather said army by visiting Cybertron and plundering its battlefields of the fallen." a low murmur of disgust reverberated around the group as the gathered onlookers took in this information._

 _"I take it that he has a method to get his army of the damned here?" commented Jack as his mind started running through all the potential scenarios, he didn't like the results._

 _"I believe that the Decepticons have constructed a fully functional space bridge somewhere outside of Earth's orbit." stated the Prime grimly._

 _"Well that's just scrapping fantastic!" spat the Wrecker heatedly "How are we supposed to be able to reach that!"_

 _"With great difficulty." replied the chief medical officer pointedly "I'm pretty sure you all realized that our transportation systems can't reach that far out into space which leaves us at an impasse."_

 _"_ _ **Well we have to do something!**_ _" snapped Bumblebee "_ _ **We can't just let them win!**_ _"_

 _"I have no intention of letting that happen" rumbled Optimus unwaveringly as he glanced over at the lead scout. "We will protect humanity."_

 _"Still have to find a way to reach the blasted thing." muttered Arcee darkly "Do we have any way of getting there?"_

 _"As of this exact moment, no" sighed Ratchet in clear frustration "We believe that they must have some kind of transportation installation on the planet's surface to allow them to move from deep space onto the planet."_

 _"But we haven't found it yet" groaned the femme in dawning realisation "Primus protect us."_

 _"Primus helps those who help themselves, we're on our own.." snapped Jack as his tone turned cold "We need to get to the space bridge and destroy it, right now!"_

 _"And how do you suggest we do that?" Snorted Bulkhead "Last time I checked we don't have a spacecraft and have no easy way of acquiring one, also we don't know where their facility on the planet's surface is located"_

 _"And the Nemesis has wisely positioned itself outside of our ground bridge range" sighed Arcee "I thought that was suspicious"_

 _"_ _ **So we need to find this teleportation site**_ _" stated the black and yellow mech determinedly "_ _ **That's our only viable option.**_ _"_

 _"It's going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack." countered the agent resignedly as he ran a gloved hand over his face._

 _"_ _ **We don't have any other options.**_ _" snapped the youngest Autobot, but his frustration quickly dissipated as he caught the look of resignation that had spread across the humans usually stone features. "_ _ **What?**_ _"_

 _"I can't believe that I'm going to do this." muttered Jack as he stomped towards the com-station._

 _"Jack?" Arcee raised a brow plate in mild confusion._

 _"I'm getting us a ride, just stay there." declared the agent pointedly as he punched in a mobile phone number into the outbound communication link. "Must be out of my damn mind." he grumbled to himself._

 _"Agent?" added the Prime in concern when he saw the uneasiness that was seeping out of the human member of his team._

 _"Just...just don't get involved." replied the man tiredly as a live audio channel crackled to life._

 _"Well well well, When I started my day I never thought I'd be getting a call from you my boy, it's been too long son, how are you?" Jack visibly flinched when he heard the old mech refer to him as 'son'._

 _"Doctor." a low chuckle could be heard from the other side of the line._

 _"Now now Jack, there's no need for such formality we're well past that stage in our relationship after all." there was a short pause "But I get the feeling this isn't a social call." the smugness was still there, along with that all knowing arrogance that made Jack wish he could reach through the comm line and rip the old mechs command module out._

 _"What was your first clue?" he snapped "The fact that I called you, or the fact that when I left I buried every single kill team that the committee sent after me?" another chuckle_

 _"I see that your cynicism has remained intact." declared the cybertronian evenly "Even after your long-term exposure to my former comrades in arms, most impressive my boy, but then again you never failed to impress me in the past, I don't see the need to start now." there was another pause. "I take it from signal encoding that your broadcasting from the Autobot operational base in Utah correct?" the man grunted in confirmation. "Could you be a good boy and put my old colleague Ratchet on the line?"_

 _"I want nothing to do with that slag heap!" thundered the chief medic as he picked up the request "If you've got anything to say to me Gearshift you can come and tell me to my faceplate!" A low bark of laughter echoed out of the terminals audio ports._

 _"Oh Jack, you've got me on loudspeakers and you didn't tell, that's rather impolite."_

 _"Politeness was never one of my concerns Doctor." replied the agent grimly. "Now can we get back to the topic at hand?"_

 _"Fine, fine." sighed the bot in mock disappointment. "What can I do for you agent?"_

 _"I need a ship" there was a long silence before the rogue cybertronian spoke again._

 _"That's rather a hefty request, especially considering your current situation with my employer." declared the scientist pointedly over the line. "I hope you won't mind me ask what you need it for?"_

 _"We need to get into deep space, Megatron is planning an invasion and I think the illuminati elders would prefer it if that didn't happen. You know how they get when people try to take over the world after all the work they put into it."_

 _"That would be preferable, I take it that whatever that maniac is planning it has something to do with that space bridge gateway that the decepticons have been building on the dark side of the moon correct?" it wasn't a question_

 _"So you already know about this matter." rumbled Prime pointedly as he joined in on the conversation. "Why didn't you not make use aware of the situation beforehand before it became critical" the good doctor fell silent as he recognized the mech's unmistakable voice._

 _"Optimus Prime himself, I never imagined that I would be talking to you in the flesh, as it were, I would say it's an honor but I think we both know that's not completely true."_

 _"Indeed." countered the Autebot leader. "Now answer the question, why have your employers not dealt with the situation beforehand?"_

 _"That is a question that should be directed at my superiors. Personally I would have just nuked them all from orbit, but that's just me." The rogue scientist said. "But people said that it wasn't discreet enough so they decided to go with a different method."_

 _"I couldn't imagine why" snapped Ratchet sharply. "Because when I think of solving a problem I immediately think of nuclear fire"_

 _"Ah there you our Ratchet I'd wondered how long it would take for you to join in on the conversation" chuckled Gearshift loudly. "You could never keep your opinions to yourself"_

 _"And you could!" countered the chief medic heatedly "You amoral piece of rusting scrape!"_

 _"Morals are a personal interpretation of reality doctor, we make our own rules that is what I believe"_

 _"Well yours seem extremely thin on the ground!" stated the red and white mech coldly as he stomped away._

 _"Can we get back to the matter at hand please!" declared Jack loudly as he took control of the conversation once again. "Because I for one really don't want to get my face eaten off by an undead cybertronian." that understandably focused everyone's attention._

 _"I take it by that description that our old friend Megatron has been messing around with dark energon again?" Mused the scientist._

 _"That is correct." stated Prime coldly. "Jack has made reference to your prior experience with this corrupting substance."_

 _"Oh I'm well past that point in my research." commented the scientist evenly. "But I can understand why you would feel the need to prevent this situation from getting out of hand."_

 _"So you're willing to help us?" Enquired the Autobot leader. "Won't this committee of yours disapprove?" you could feel the dismissive shrug echoing out from the other end of the speakers._

 _"I should be able to convince them, if not I'll just send you some coordinates and you can just steal one of their ships." declared the cybertronian steadily. "But it shouldn't be a problem, I take it you're on a rather tight time schedule right?"_

 _"What was your first clue?" snapped the agent "So you'll get us transport, no questions asked?"_

 _"Yes, yes, of course." reassured Gearshift dismissively "It was nice to speak to you Jack, Sam sends her regards by the way, although I would ask that you treat your siblings with a bit more respect next time."_

 _"No." replied the augmented human as he closed the link before silently walking away._

 _"Jack?" but Arcee's request went unanswered as her partner stomped away into the depths of the silo._

 _"I think our friend needs some time to himself right now." declared Optimus sagely as he placed a reassuring hand on his scouts shoulder. "We should get ready for our mission."_

 _"Yes sir." sighed the pink and blue bot as she lowered her head in disappointment._

* * *

 _BACK IN THE PRESENT:_

"We've just cleared the planet's atmosphere." stated Ratchet loudly over the deafening roar a split second before the ships engines suddenly fell silently as they left the atmosphere behind and thundered out into the cold, vacuum of space.

"Feels good to be back in zero gravity." chuckled the Wrecker as he untangled himself from his safety harness. "How far are we from the target?"

"With our current speed, just over ten minutes." declared the pilot. "Hopefully the decepticons won't be smart enough to check their deep space scanners."

"They'll probably be expecting us to attack their ground bridge location." commented the human as he floated over towards the front of the ship. "But we shouldn't let our guard down; this thing was designed for discreet interventions, not open battles. I wouldn't like our odds facing down the Nemesis."

"Hopefully that won't be necessary" rumbled Optimus from behind them. "But if that is the case I want you to pull the craft back to a safe distance after we've disembarked."

"Understood." replied the human grimly as he slotted himself into the co-pilot seat. "You going to be ok on your own Cee? I won't be there to save your ass this time."

"I should be asking you Jack" snorted Arcee as she crossed her servos mockingly. "Last time I checked I wasn't the one that needed Ratchet to give me a medical once over."

"There's an earth saying about glass houses and throwing stones." commented the medic as he interjected in on the conversion. "Or was it some other femme that came to me last week with damaged to her substructure?"

"I hate you so much right now." grumbled the second in commander as she floated back to her spot at the back of the craft.

" _ **Do we have an exit strategy?**_ " questioned Bumblebee uneasily as he glanced out into the deep, darkness of space. " _ **Because I for one don't really want to be left floating through the depths of space when all this is over.**_ " the young mech glanced around at his assembled teammates " _ **I'm just saying.**_ "

"We'll follow standard operating procedure." snapped Jack as he took over control of the spacecraft. "Which means I'll act as your extraction in this flying tin can." and he wasn't kidding for all the seemingly advanced technology that the illuminati had at their fingertips they still managed to design the space faring equivalent of a brick; sharp edges dominated every angle, giving it an all to haunting similarity to some of the smaller ships in the once massive decepticon fleet.

"And what do we do if we lose this thing?" Countered Bulkhead.

"Well for one, I'd be dead." replied the agent which made the Wrecker flinch as he felt Arcee's eyes boring into the back of his helmet in silent condemnation. "Secondly, there's still the Nemesis, which I suspect that you'll be able to reach judging from the fact that we know that Megatron will keep his flagship close by to organize his forces once they come through."

"I had contemplated something similar." rumbled Prime. "It will be more than likely that Megatron will be close by to witness what he perceives as the defining moment of his battle for earth." the towering mech glanced down at the human member of his team. "Although I will restate my intention for you to stay out of harm's way if possible Jack, this kind of mission is well beyond your area of expertise and I fear if anything were to go wrong that none of us would be on hand to assist you"

"Just worry about getting onto the spacebridge, I'll worry about staying alive. I'm actually quite good at it." countered the agent dismissively as he guided the vessel towards their intended destination.

"Just don't do anything stupid alright." stated Arcee quietly as she took on a concerned air. "Therese no second chances in space."

"I know." replied her partner evenly as he glanced away from the controls. "Just worry about yourself, don't make me come down there to save your ass as usual." he added smugly earning him a dismissive snort from the bot.

"As much as I would love to sit here and listen to the two of you snipe at each other all day we've got more pressing things to concern ourselves with." interrupted the medic as he pointed past them with a metal digit at something off in the far distance. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Indeed" muttered Jack darkly as he fixed his gaze on the massive gateway before them. "You guys might want to bulk up this could get rather bumpy" he didn't need to say it twice as a blazing bolt of plasma came hurtling past them a split second later.

"Looks like they know we're here." shouted the Wrecker over the wailing of alarms as the craft shook violently from one side to the other, the reluctant pilot dodging incoming fire as best he could as they approached their target.

"We're about five minutes out, get ready!" bellowed the human as he sent the transport into a savage nose dive when something grazed over the top of their vehicle.

"Too close Jack, too close!" Arcee shouted in mild panic.

"All criticisms should be aimed at the Nemesis gun crew, not me." snapped the helmsman over his shoulder as he desperately attempted to stop them from turning into a charred, burnt out husk as the AA fire only seemed to intensify.

"There must be some other way to reach the space bridge." Optimus said as his gaze remained fixed on the Nemesis as it moved into a defensive position in front of them.

"Not if we want to get there in time" countered Ratchet grimly as he took note of the cascading waves of energy that were already starting to flow over gateways outer structure. "And judging from what I'm seeing we haven't got long."

"You'll want to belt in for this next bit!" Instructed the augmented human as his hands danced over the control panel. "Because the next few minutes are going to be wild!" the warning couldn't come a moment too soon as the ship rocked under the impact of decipticon weaponry and the heavy manoeuvring as Jack did his best to avoid it.

* * *

 _ON BOARD THE NEMESIS COMMAND DECK_ :

"Commander Starscream, the unknown signature is accelerating towards us at unbelievable speed!" the decepticon second-in-command tore his gaze away from the charging spacebridge portal to look at the trembling drone before him.

"You haven't destroyed it yet, what are you worthless scrap piles playing at!?" he snarled coldly as he stormed past the trembling subordinate to look at the nearest sensor screen.

"We are attempting to Sir but it keeps evading our fire" stammered the unfortunate drone a split second before his head was severed from the rest of his body in a shower of sparks.

"I want this thing destroyed! Do I make myself clear?!" roared the flyer venomously as he turned to remaining command crew. "Well what are you waiting for, do as I command!" he bellowed.

* * *

"Well I think it's safe to say we've got their full attention." shout Jack of the roar of the engines as they dodged yet another barrage of plasma fire. "Don't know how long I can keep pulling this off Prime; you guys better get ready to jump!"

"Just get us within range of the gateway we will take care of the rest." declared the Autobot leader as he made his way towards the back of the craft.

"Eyes up, enemy flyers 12 o'clock high and coming in fast!" shouted Arcee as he long range scanners picked up movement on the very peripheries of the range.

"I can't shake them in this thing for long so get going, I'll be fine!" bellowed Jack from the cockpit as his metallic fingers danced over the door controls.

"But..."

"I said I'll be fine, now _go_!" snapped the human as he cut off the femme sharply.

"Primus be with you Jack." rumbled Prime as he guided the rest of his team towards the waiting exit.

"Primus be with us all." whispered the man grimly.

* * *

 **Here is the latest chapter, sorry about the long wait, both myself and my proofreader have been busy, he with his own projects and me with my YouTube channel, for the fans of my over story's they should be coming soon.  
**

 **I would ask that you leave a comment if your able, it would be extremely helpful to know what you the readers think of the story so far, also please remember it takes a lot of time and energy to write my works so it means a lot when I get a review.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed, I'll catch you all next time.**

 **Gods-own**


	11. Chapter 11

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 11**

What do you mean they made it to the gate!" snarled Starscream as he slammed his right servo into the side of the drones helmet, sending the unfortunate subordinate crashing to the deck in a shower of sparks. "I want that ship destroyed and the Autobots eliminated, do I make myself clear!" the decepticon nodded frantically.

"Yes Commander Starscream!"

"Then get on with it before I inform Lord Megatron of your incompetence!" the drone fled back to its section as the slender cybertronian turned to glare out of the main viewing screen.

"Sir the Autobot craft is attempting to extract itself from the combat zone!" declared another drone who was manning a nearby tactical station.

"What quadrant!" snapped the flyer sharply.

"E-47 Sir" the decepticon commander let out a small snarl.

"If you want someone scraped you got to do it yourself." he muttered as he headed towards the nearest access door.

* * *

 _Somewhere in deep space_ :

"I'm not getting paid enough for this!" snapped Jack grimly as he threw the shuttle around in desperation, anti-aircraft fire sundering the void around him.

" _Agent Jack can you hear me?_ " the unmistakable voice of Optimus Prime came rumbling out of the on-board speakers.

"I hear you, what's the situation ground side?" there was a brief pause before the team leader replied.

" _We have secured the spacebridge and are now attempting to hold the installation until Ratchet can discern some way of overloading the primary power core._ "

"Well can you tell him to hurry up, it's getting rather hot up here." muttered the human as he distractedly rolled the craft to one side to avoid a burst of plasma fire. "Shit!"

" _Jack what's wrong!_ " his partners' worried voice cut in as she picked up his desperation.

"It's nothing, stay on target!" snapped the agent grimly as he court site of the chrome silver fighter that came roaring in from above. "This guy's good" he muttered to himself as the sinister looking craft kept pace with him as he desperately attempted to shake the attacker.

* * *

"Well isn't this interesting" chuckled Starscream evilly as he let loose another salvo that the speeding transport. "I wonder who it is?" none of the autobots to his knowledge could fly as well as this, had one of them been holding out on him? No, that couldn't be it this was something else he could feel it. "Well let's find out." he opened his communicator on a wide band frequency.

* * *

" _I must admit I'm rather impressed that you've managed to last this long, so before I kill you tell me who you are._ " Jack glanced sideways at the com-link as the mocking declaration came echoing out over the airwaves.

"Judging from your voice I take it you must be Starscream" replied the human evenly as took note of the fighters paint scheme. "Guess I should feel flattered, Megatrons second in command coming to deal with me person." there was a gleeful cackle from the over end of the line.

" _Finally someone who acknowledges my greatness_ " stated the decepticon. " _It almost seems sad to kill you autobot,_ **_almost_!** " there was a shuddering impact as plasma rounds hammered into the metalwork, sending sparks and warning lights flashing out all over the cockpit as the super charged energy chewed through the shuttle.

"Arcee was right, you _do_ like the sound of your own voice." muttered Jack as he banked the vehicle to one side as he slammed it into a sharp U-turn, surprising him because he was sure the g-forces would tear his craft in two. "Well if you're going to kill me then you're going to have to work for it scrap head." the loud cursing that answered the statement clearly indicated that he'd been heard.

* * *

 _On the space bridge:_

"Ratchet we need that demolition plan right now!" Shouted the fembot frantically as she ducked under a poorly timed swing to plant a combat blade into the attackers' spark chamber.

" _I'm working on it!_ " snapped the chief medic " _Stop bothering me!_ "

"He's right Arcee, the task will go faster if you don't pressure him." stated the towering prime as he blasted a pair of unfortunate drones into the void.

"But Sir..." her protest was silenced by an outstretched servo.

"I know you're concerned about your partner Arcee but at this right now we must focus on the mission, Jack can take care of himself and he would want us to stay focused." intoned the leader before taking on a more gentle tone. "But your dedication to his well being speaks well of you." the fem blushed or did the cybertronian equivalent as she quickly looked away in clear embarrassment.

" _I don't mean to interrupt but I suggest that you hit the deck I'm coming in hot_ _!_ " roared the human over the channel as the shuttle came thundering passed mere inches over their heads, a long trail of black haze reeking of engine fuel and oil spreading out behind him as Starscream came tearing into view, hot on his heels.

"Jack!" the com-link crackled into life as her partners desperate tone echoed out from the other side.

" _I can't keep her up for much longer, you're on your own Prime, good luck!_ " the declaration was quickly accompanied by a blinding flash of light as one of the engines exploded in a blaze of plasma.

"Get out of there Jack, I can send Arcee to retrieve you!" snapped Optimus as he took note of the shuttle's erratic flight path as its pilot turned it towards the Nemesis.

" _Not going to happen Sir, my hard suit isn't designed for zero gravity engagements, my only hope is to crash into the enemy flagship, if I'm lucky I'll buy you guys some time, over and out_ " the line went dead.

" **By Primus what is he thinking?** " bleeped Bumblebee as he caught the tail end of the conversation.

"He's thinking about the mission." replied the Prime grimly, he turned to look at each and every one of them. "Hopefully we'll able to link back up with him after the destruction of the gateway, if not . . ." he fell silent for a moment before continuing "If not then his sacrifice will not have been in vain." an unbelievably heavy atmosphere descended on all those listening.

"Well isn't this truly moving." the cold, uncaring voice snapped them out of their contemplations as one they spun around to face the looming form that was hovering above them.

"Megatron" rumbled Optimus as his faceguard slammed into place. "This ends now!"

"Yes it does Prime!" snarled the ruthless decepticon leader as he formed his sword.

* * *

 _On board the Nemesis_ :

"By the allspark what is the flyer thinking!" shouted one of the drones as they watch the out of control transport rocket towards them at breakneck speed.

"He's planning to crash right into us! Shoot him down, shoot him down right now!" shouted another one as the gun crews began unloading rounds downrange towards the target at an increased rate.

"It's not working!" the drone manning the main display glanced over at his fellow bots, "Brace for impact!" the warning had barely exited its audio box before there was a loud screeching of metal on metal as the shuttle slammed into the top of the flagship in a jagged storm of shrapnel and spark.

"Hanger bay A's doors have been breached, we're venting atmosphere!" an operator bellowed.

"Seal it before the whole ship depressurizes!" ordered the chief drone "And send bots down to check for survivors, Commander Starscream will rip out my spark chamber if we don't get this under control!" the frantic rant was quickly brought to a halt as the all to familiar voice of their superior came thundering out of the surrounding speakers

 _"What are you rust buckets playing at! You couldn't shoot down a single damaged craft! There better be no lasting harm done to the ship or I'm going to beat you to death with your own heads._ " threatened the second in command voice viciously. " _Can anyone confirm the state of the enemy pilot?_ " the drones looked at each over in mild confusion.

"There has been no word from the cleanup crew of any pilot Commander, we believe that he must be buried in wreckage."

" _You idiots!_ " roared the flyer over the com " _If he isn't in the craft then it must mean he's escaped into the ship, go to red alert, lock down the entire vessel and find the intruder, he can't have gotten far!_ "

"Yes Commander, at once!" snapped the chief drone sharply as a split second later it began barking out orders to its fellow bots.

* * *

It was a rather impressive crash if Jack did say so himself, the transport slammed into the top of the flagship with a bone shattering thud before sliding on its belly towards what must be, by the looks of it, one the Nemesis's numerous hanger bays, unfortunately the main door were shut tight to prevent unwanted visitors, but he got the feeling they weren't expecting someone to knock as hard as he did s his ship met the massive door, punching a hole clean through it before sliding to a halt.

"I'm getting to old for this shit!" yelled the agent over the sounds of failing metal as his ride slowly disintegrated around him under the force of the impact, unfortunately he had more pressing things to worry about at he caught sight of the rapidly approaching wall that made up the rear section of the hanger. "Time to leave!" declared the man as he ripped himself from the harness and sprinted towards the back of the transport, in hindsight it was a rather wise decision as the front of the vehicle was totally destroyed in the collision, still it rather hurt somewhat as the intruder was yanked back by the kinetic momentum of the impact and sent crashing into the wreckage painfully.

"Got to work on my landing strategies." muttered the human with a low groan as he glanced down at himself gingerly, by some miraculous twist of fate he'd been spared any obvious injuries from the collision, although as the agent struggled up right he definitely felt a sharp stabbing pain from his lower back as something was yanked free. "That didn't feel good" he muttered as he carefully glanced back over his shoulder, a sharp piece of metal sticking out, the first few inches of it was coated in something that looked remarkably like his own blood.

"Well shit" Jack let out a pained sigh as he quickly glanced around at his environment for something that he could use to stem the obvious flow of blood that he could feel trickling down one leg; the transport was a wreck, whatever had been stowed away had been torn from their housings and scatted across the surrounding landscaped, he court site of his rifle sticking out from a nearby heap and instinctively pulled it free, unfortunately whatever was left of his spare ammo was strewn all around him as he painfully chambered the weapon. "Six in the clip." he let out a pained sigh "Better than nothing." he picked up an emergency first aid kit that was lying broken nearby and, using what items left in it, he managed to apply a certain level of self-care to himself.

"Get those fires out!" the agents head snapped up as the unmistakable wail of a drones voice close by.

"Time for me to go." muttered Jack as he triggered the coats stealth system, but all he got in response was a static electrical discharge as something short-circuited. "Shit!" the injury must have hit something vital in the clothing's built-in circuitry, this made life a lot more difficult and he knew it. "Looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way."

* * *

In the same hanger it was it was utter chaos, small fires had broken out in all directions and what was left of its contents was lying in ruins across its length and breadth.

"Get that retardant foam on those blazes before they set off any nearby energon!" bellowed the drone in charge. "Right now scrap heads!" the team leaders angry instructions were quickly cut off as his com-link burst into life.

" _This is the bridge, status report, what is the state of the enemy craft?_ " the bot in charge silently rolled his optics behind his visor, the drones on the command deck always got so high and mighty when none of the officers were around, they seemed to forget that their illustrious leader had the habit of disassembling cybertronians that failed him, not that he was going to remind them.

"We're checking it out right now, no signs of movement, no life signatures either." there was a slight pause.

" _Good, Commander Starscream will be pleased, bridge out._ " the line went dead.

"Alright you heard the bots upstairs, Z0478, D91072 you've got the sharp end of the shaft, go check it out." the two drones nodded and began advancing on the downed craft, but they didn't even get half way before alarms began blaring around them.

"By the pit what is going on?" questioned one of the lesser decepticons in clear confusion.

"It's a ship wide alert, they're locking down the Nemesis!" declared the team leader sharply as the assembled bots watch the heavy looking access doors slam shut with a deafening thud. "They think something's on board." and as one the drones slowly looked towards the burning wreckage.

"Just my scrapping luck." muttered one of the bots as they slow raised their arm cannons in unison. "And I just got waxed!"

"Shut that audio port right now!" snapped the section leader sharply "Z0478, D91072, Z0982, B8645 go check it out, the rest of you cover them!" there was low beeps of acknowledgment from the others as they carefully got into position, then next few minutes slowly ticked by as the vanguard slowly picket over the transport.

" _This is the Bridge, Commander Starscream wants an update!_ " the chief drone let low sigh.

"Nothing to report, we're checking the craft no contacts."

" _Then check harder!_ " snapped the voice before the line went dead.

"What do they think we're doing!?" snapped the bot angrily before a sudden cry court his attention.

"We've got fluid, looks organic!" the call rang out over the empty space, that caught the squad leader by surprise.

"Nothing else?" he questioned over the comms. "No pools of energon or the like?"

"No sir." there was a long pause.

"Bridge this is hanger team Alpha." there was a long pause until a high pitched snarl filtered back down.

" _This is Commander Starscream, report!_ " the drone winced in fear.

"No contacts Commander, no life signs either." the bot heard the low hiss of frustration over the line.

" _Did you find anything!_ " the officer demanded. " _Any sign of the pilot!_ "

"We found organic fluid, but nothing else sir."

" _Organic fluid, what do you mean organic fluid!_ " the chief drone glanced to its subordinates for a more detailed explanation.

"It looks like blood." there was a long pause.

" _Blood?_ " challenged the second in command disbelievingly. " _You're sure?_ "

"Yes Commander Starscream." there was a long pause, that was quickly shattered by an uncontrollable laugh that echoed down the channel, a high pitch cackle that put everyone on edge.

" _Oh this, this is to good..._ " the commander let out a long sigh as he court his breath. " _It seems that we have a special guest._ " the decepticons tone took on a barbed edge. " _I want the human found and brought to me alive, do I make myself clear._ "

"Yes Commander" the team leader glanced over at its fellow drones. "You heard the Commander find the organic, right now!" there was a loud roar of understanding from the assembled bots as they quickly broke off to search the room, the next few minutes ticked by as the determined group picked over the ruined hanger, only to come up empty, which rather understandably did not go down well with his superior.

" _What do you mean you can't find him!_ " bellowed the flyer sharply. " _Humans don't just vanish into thin air!_ "

"But he's not here sir" stammered the bot nervously as he reported their findings. "We've checked every possible hiding spot in the area." the Commander cursed loudly.

" _Then it must have gone into the service vents you moron!_ " the voice roared " _Get the maintenance drones in there and flush him out!_ "

"Yes sir, right away sir!" the lead bot jabbed a digit at a nearby vent hatch "Get those hatches open, get the cleaners online!" the order was carried out with frantic haste as they quickly pulled a number of metallic boxes over towards the waiting grate.

* * *

 _Somewhere in the vents:_

"I need to get out of here." muttered Jack quietly to himself as he quickly crawled down a seemingly never ending system of cramped conduits, the bulky rifle dragging behind him. "Starscream's an egomaniac but he isn't stupid, he'll know I'm down here sooner rather than later." and as soon as he said this there was a low pitch squeal from somewhere back down the cramped space.

"Oh hell no." declared the agent as he quickly picked up the pace, the distant sound of metal on metal echoed up towards him. "I'm not going to die in some god forsaken air vent!" but no matter how fast he tried to move the sounds of pursuit was drawing closer and closer to his position.

"Come on!" and if the fates were watch another hatch game into view and using what little flexibility he had left he managed to punch it open with a metallic fist before throwing himself through the open whole and onto the floor below with a meaty thud. " _Really_ need to work on my landings." wheezed the agent painfully as he pulled himself upright just in time to see to see a pair of drones come stomping around a corner.

"Enemy infiltrator sighted!" bellowed the one on left a fraction of a seconded to late as its helmet was caved in by a weighty round that came slamming down range towards it, the over one had the common sense to throw its bulky frame back behind cover as the now nearly decapitated body as its companion toppled lifelessly onto the ground.

"Back up, we need back up!" it wailed into its com-link, but unfortunately for the decepticon, Jack hadn't finished with it as with an unbelievable speed the human darted forward, his combat blades sliding out, the drone didn't even see it coming as the agent threw itself up and over its frame with lethal efficiency born form years of experience before jamming both molecular edged weapons into one the cybertronians primary fuel lines, before ripping them free in a navy blue sea of gore.

"It came from down here, hurry!" the declaration snapped the human out of his blood lust as he quickly backtracked back the way he'd come, just in time to see a web of steel tentacles come swarming out of an access hatch, the service bots coming fully into view.

"Matrix rip offs." muttered the human as he took note of the one large eye that seemed to be hidden in a mass of flailing limbs, but as always it wasn't alone as two more of the squid like constructions pulled themselves out of the narrow space.

" _To the mammal skulking abroad our ship_ " Starscreams mocking tones came echoing out over the internal communication system. " _Cease your resistance and surrender yourself to us and I will consider being lenient on you._ "

"He really seems to have a skill for pissing people off." muttered the human as he snapped off a quick shot that sent one of the twitching masses of metal tumbling backwards with a screech.

" _I won't ask again human surrender or be destroyed!_ " bellowed the decepticon second-in-command. " _This is your last warning!_ "

"Will you shut up!" snapped the agent loudly as he flipped off any potential security cameras. "I'm trying to think!" but he didn't have much time to think as the remain repair drones quickly rallied themselves and let out angry shrieks as the built in defense software kicked into over drive. "Oh come on!" he groaned.

* * *

Somewhere on the surface of the gateway portal:

"Your continued resistance is pathetic Prime." snarled Megatron coldly as he slammed a clenched servo into his old comrade in arms face, sending the autobot staggering backwards. "You've lost, soon my army will come roaring through the breach and there is nothing you can do about it!"

"I wouldn't count on that Megatron." rumbled the red and blue mech confidently, as he retaliated with a blow that sent his foe crashing into the metal of the gigantic satellite.

"I'm going to enjoy ripping out your spark chamber" muttered the decepticon darkly as he pulled himself upright once more.

* * *

 _Nearby:_

"We could really use that solution of yours right about now Ratchet!" snapped Arcee loudly as she slashed a blade over a drones exposed neck, sending glowing blue droplets spewing out into the void.

" _I'm almost done, there should be a maintenance hatch three hundred meters to your left, go to it!_ " the fem glanced over towards her other teammates who were fighting nearby.

"We've got this Cee, get going!" snapped Bulkhead reassuringly as he shattered an attacker's breastplate with a well-timed punch.

"I'll be back." she declared firmly before making a brake for the highlighted section.

" _Are you in position yet?_ " questioned the voice in her audio port.

"I'm working on it!" she muttered.

" _Then work harder!_ " countered the chief medic. " _We're running out of time!_ "

"You've got some nerve telling me that!" snapped the bot as she pulled open the panel to reveal a pulsating purple cylinder that was set into a recess in the floor. "Ok what am I looking at?"

" _One the gateways built in energon batteries._ " countered the expert. " _I suspect that if we overload the on-board power network then the subsequent chain reaction will detonate the rest of the installation._ "

"Ok that sounds good, but what's the catch?" Question the pink and blue autobot uneasily, there was a noticeable pause. "Ratchet?"

" _You'll have to manually overload the battery by hand, once that's done you'll need to get out of there as fast as possible._ " the fem raised an brow plate.

"Ok that doesn't sound too bad, how long do we have before this place explodes?"

" _I don't know._ " muttered the older grimly.

"That answer does not fill me with confidence." She responded in a deadpan tone.

" _I'm sorry!_ " snapped the medic sharply " _The schematics say that destabilizing the power mainframe will result in a total systems overload, but I can't give you an accurate timescale, all that I know is that it'll be soon._ " the fem let out a long sigh.

"Fine." she raised a digit to her com-link. "Everyone get ready to evac, we're blowing this place right now!" there was blinks of acknowledgement from the other listeners as they silently took in this information. "Ok how do I do this?"

" _Shoot the battery and then run as fast as you can!_ " snapped the unseen specialist. " _Because this explosion is going to be big!_ "

"I'll keep you to that." muttered the bot as she pointed her weapon at the open port.

* * *

"We're leaving!" the order blared over the team channel as Bumblebee and Bulkhead caught sight of their superior sprinting towards them full speed, sections of deck exploded out a few meters behind her as whatever she'd done started to take effect on the gateway.

" **Oh you've got to be kidding me!** " bleeped the scout as his optics went wide as the wave of explosions started to spread out across the length and breadth of the gigantic construct, the assembled autobots throwing themselves to safety.

* * *

 **Here is the latest chapter, sorry about the long wait, both myself and my proofreader have been busy, he with his own projects and me with my YouTube channel.  
**

 **I would ask that you leave a comment if your able, it would be extremely helpful to know what you the readers think of the story so far, also please remember it takes a lot of time and energy to write my works so it means a lot when I get reviews, I'm not joking I'm morel likely to get a new chapter up sooner if I get reviews, you have been warned.  
**

 **see you all next time.**

 **Gods-own.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 12**

The detonation was blinding, as the massive buildup of stored energy in the gateway went wild, tearing the structure apart as dozens of smaller explosions blossomed across its surface in a horrifyingly hypnotic show. Commander Starscream had to silently agree as he watched in mute frustration as his lords plans came crashing down around them in a burning ball of plasma, the only up side of this entire debacle was the seeming fact that Megatron had managed, under his own arrogance, to get himself off-lined, a fact that brought his second in command no end of silent glee.

"Commander Starscream, we've got multiple energon signatures inbound on our position!" the warning snapped the bot out of its internal mussing as it quickly turned its optics to glare pointedly at the drone in question.

"Check their IFF markers, I want to know if they're ours or the enemies!"

"Yes Commander!"

"And someone bring me an update on our little pest problem, and it better be good!" he snarled coldly.

* * *

 _Somewhere onboard the Nemesis:_

"Let go of me you Matrix rejects!" snarled Jack out loud as he slashed at the swarm of maintenance bots with his combat blade, all the while attempting to keep out of the reach of metal tentacles that lashed out at him from every direction.

" _ **Foreign contaminate detected, proceeding with biohazard removal protocols.**_ " declared the closest machine robotically as it attempted to rip him limb from limb.

"Will you shut up?!" countered the augmented human angrily as he stabbed the offending construct clean through its single large optical lens with a blade. "It's getting rather tiresome!" the thing screeched from its audio speakers before the human ripped his weapon free to face the remaining assailants.

"The intruder is down here, we have it cornered!" the statement snapped Jacks attention away just at the wrong moment as one of the tentacles connected squarely with his chest, there was a faint crack and sudden shortness of breath as the agent felt ribs, which had only just been healed, cracked under the force of the impact.

"Shit!" he spluttered as the all too familiar taste of copper filled his mouth. "That's not good." he tugged a small metal box off of his belt "I was saving this for someone important but, looks like you'll have to do." he tossed it into the middle of the robots, who only had time to blink before the box exploded, coating the bots in electromagnetic waves that sent them crashing to the ground, lifeless.

Handy things EMP grenades, pity that was his last one, Jack had been saving it in case one of his old co-workers from the illuminate turned up to say hello, not that it happened much anymore, his deal with the united states government had pretty much resulted with him being left alone for the most part, after all, why hunt him when they knew exactly where he was at all times?

"The organic is getting away!" the alarm echoed off the surrounding bulkheads as the human beat a hasty retreat.

"Really, _really_ , not even a little break?" Muttered Jack as he snapped off a shot with his rifle, sending one of his pursuers slamming into the deck with a resounding thud.

"Take it out, take it out right now!" bellowed another decepticon franticly as newly arrived reinforcements began sending plasma bolts slamming into the bulkheads around the agent as he escaped around a corner.

"I'm not paid enough for this!" shouted the human.

* * *

 _Somewhere in space:_

"Brace yourselves, this will be a hard landing!" rumbled Optimus Prime over the com-link as the Autobots hurtled towards the looming outline of the Nemesis, that dominated their horizon. "Everyone sound off."

"Fully functional Sir" stated Arcee.

"Green across the board." confirmed Bulkhead.

" **Good to go.** " bleeped Bumblebee as the yellow bot gave a thumbs up.

"Good, our primary objective is to link backup with Jack on board the enemy flagship and extract via their groundbridge back to earth." declared their leader firmly. "Expect there to be notable resistance, even with Megatron seemly incapacitated, the remaining decepticon lieutenants will not just allow us free rein of their ship" there was a chorus of confirmations from the surrounding cybertronians.

"Have we heard anything from Jack since he crashed into the flagship?" questioned Bulkhead uneasily as he glanced out of the corner of his vision at the pink and blue femme that was rocketing through the void close by. "Just saying." he quickly added as he picked up on the air of hostility that was radiating off of the second-in-command.

"I have full confidence in Agent Jack's ability to protect himself." commented the Prime resolutely as they drew closer to the gigantic vessel. "But I will not lie; I am concerned for his well-being."

" **I'm picking up damage on their upper flight decks.** " suddenly stated Bumblebee pointedly as his optics zooms in on the deep gougers that had been carved cavernous into the metalwork. " **Looks like Jack wasn't messing around, he knocked on their door hard.** "

"He better not of have done anything stupid." muttered Arcee darkly.

"He'll be fine Arcee, have some faith." commented Optimus steadily as the mech flipped himself so that his pads were facing the rapidly approaching ship.

"Brace for impact!"

* * *

 _On board the command deck:_

"Unknown signatures have made contact with our upper deck, we're being boarded!" Shouted a drone frantically as it glanced away from its data screen.

"Sound the general alarm, I want all our heavy infantry to report to the upper levels, destroy the enemy invaders, we can't let them establish a foothold." snarled Starscream angrily as he stormed out of the bridge. "I'm going to deal with our intruder personally." he jabbed a digit towards his fellow lieutenant. "You stay here and take control of the situation." the sinister bot simply tilted its helmet to one side before striding into the center of the madness.

* * *

 _Several floors below:_

"I've lost visual on the target." rumbled a lead drone as a small gaggle of them slowly made their way down a silent corridor towards one of the many storage rooms that lined the out sections of the ship. "Stay alert, this organic is slippery."

"Yes section leader." replied one of its subordinate as they slowly swept the area with their cannons.

"This is Commander Starscream, give me a status report!" snarled the unmistakable voice of their superior.

"We've isolated the intruder in one of the cargo bays, moving in to eliminate now." replied the lead drone confidently.

"Keep it alive, I want to deal with it myself." declared the commander as he quickly ended the one-sided discussion.

"Is he out of his scrapping mind!" muttered one of the other drones. "It's going to be hard enough kill the blasted thing as it is, now that aft wants us to take it alive!?" the bot let out a low curse.

"Lower your voice, we have our orders and we will see it through!" countered the section leader sharply. "Now keep your optics open!" the lower bot bleeped in nervous submission as the strike team turned their attention back to the task at hand, unfortunately their moment of indecision would cost them dearly as a small shape slowly watched them advance from behind a massive stack of crates, after a long moment it levelled its weapon at lead bot before pulling the trigger.

* * *

 _A few minutes later:_

"Well isn't this interesting?" muttered Starscream to himself as the slender bot strode confidently into the cargo bay, the reason for the statement was quickly revealed as the second-in-command casually stepped over ruined wreck that had once been a decepticon drone, its cooling life fluid spreading out into a shallow pool from the gaping wound in its neck.

"I have to give credit to you human, if some bot would had told me that a mere organic would have caused me such problems a few cycles ago I would have ripped out its spark." commentated the flyer evenly as he looked around at what was left of the security team, which was currently lying in bits on the floor. "But now I'm going to deal with you personally, you should feel proud."

"Lucky me," came the echoing reply from somewhere deeper in the lofty space. "But I wouldn't get too cocky. Overconfidence is a flimsy shield." the decepticon snorted dismissively of the comment.

"And people call me arrogant." he muttered as the bot turn its gaze to wash over the crowded area. "I would ask you to surrender, but we both know that you won't," a sick grin spread across his face. "Which suits me just fine."

"Are you finished yet?" countered the human. "Because I've got places to be and I'd rather not be held up by your monologuing." the declaration was quickly accompanied by the distinct roar of the infiltrators weapon, fortunately for the slender bot he had been expecting such an attack and was already rolling to one side as he felt the round scraping across the back of his shoulder plating.

"You'll have to do better than that organic!" snarled the second-in-command as he fired one of his forearm mounted rockets, the projectile arced through the air before slamming into a tower of crates nearby, the subsequent explosion sent both parties scrambling for cover as the firestorm of shrapnel and flaming wreckage rained down upon them.

* * *

 _Not that far away:_

"They're really putting up a fight." shouted Bulkhead as he ducked back behind a ruined section of decking as plasma rounds slammed into the surrounding metal work. "It almost like they don't want us on board." Bumblebee let out a low chuckle as he blasted another drone.

"Stay focused" rumbled Optimus firmly over the com-link. "Even without their leader, the decepticons are still an extremely dangerous foe, one we should never underestimate." the younger bots muttered out apologies as their little group pressed on deeper into the vessel.

"I still got nothing on long range communications." announced Arcee grimly from nearby. "All I'm getting is static"

"If that is the case then I suspect that the current enemy commander is Soundwave." intoned the prime sagely "He was well known for doing such things during the war back on cybertron." the red and blue mech glanced around "He is probably attempting to undermine morale by keeping us in the dark about Jacks current situation."

"Well its working" muttered the femme darkly as she kicked an unfortunate drone in the faceplate, before stepping in under its guard and slamming a combat blade up into its chest.

"Don't let your emotions get the better of your Arcee, it won't help our missing comrade if you get yourself injured trying to reach him." advised the team leader firmly. "All we can do is try our best and trust in the his ability to take care of himself for the time being."

"Yes sir." murmured the bot as she glanced down. "I just hope that he's ok."

* * *

 _Around the same time:_

The blow sent Jack tumbling into a nearby stack of crates with a thunderous crash.

"You're starting to get on my nerves human." snarled the decepticon coldly as it flicked a trickle of glowing fluid from a cut on its faceplate. "Will you please just _die_!"

"That's not going to happen." groaned the agent as he staggered upright. "Sorry to disappoint. Oh wait, no I'm not." the flyer snorted dismissively, taking a step towards him.

"I'm going to enjoy this" Starscream muttered as he lashed down towards the man, who had the clarity of thought to roll to one side before righting himself and attacking at the exposed limb.

"Better bots then you have tried flyer, now shut up and fight!" snarled Jack as a combat blade slashed through the out layers in a spray of gory cobalt blue, much to the clear frustration of the decepticon as he drew his arm back.

"You disgusting little insect!" roared the cybertronian as it glanced at the large gash on its palm. "I'm going to rip you in half!" the declaration was quickly followed with a sudden sweeping kick that sent Jack crashing to the ground some distance away as the attack connected with a poorly executed block.

"Got to take this guy down fast." wheezed Jack under his breath as he subtly favored his left side. "Can't take this kind of beating for much longer." he glanced sideways at the ruined landscape surrounding them, trying to find anything that could be turned to his favor, his prayers didn't go unanswered as he caught sight of something suspiciously familiar leaking out of a nearby container. "That'll work."

* * *

Starscream let out a frustrated snarl as he lashed out once more at the insufferable organic in front of him, but try as he might the human continue to elude him as it backtracked further and further into the storage room, typical lesser being, never realizing when they were out classed, it didn't matter contemplated the flayer evilly as he smashed a servo into a metal crate before hurling its entire contents down range towards flee human, who rather unfortunately had the clarity of mind to dart to one side just in the nick of time.

"I'm rather surprised human, you lasted longer than any other of your kind that I've had the tedium to endure." commented the decepticon commander mockingly as he stepped through the carnage. "Not that it's says much, your kind are rather pathetic after all."

"Nice to know you think so highly of us." came the echoing reply "I would say the same about you, but let's face it; I'm pretty sure Megatron and I have the same opinion of you." the mech snorted dismissively.

"Is that so?" he countered, he got his answer sooner than he was anticipating as something detonated above him, drawing his attention from the flying kick that collided with his head, forcing him to stagger.

"First rule of combat asshole." stated the infuriating human from somewhere nearby. "Always keep an eye on your surroundings!" the bot let out a loud bellow as he attempted to keep himself balanced. "Thanks for playing Starscream but don't worry, we won't leave you empty handed, here's your consolation prize. It's _exploding energon_!" the statement was quickly followed by a burst of light as something combusted just on the corner of his vision "Don't forget to, stop, drop and roll!" he barely had time to register the comment before the whole world was engulfed in flames, now normally such a thing wasn't something that cybertronians really needed to concern themselves with, being made out of living metal and all, but in this instance the flaming liquid had made its way into every nook and crevice, so the effects were to say the least unpleasant as the flyer desperately attempted to put himself out as the human made a hasty retreat, Starscreams pained roars echoing in his ears.

* * *

 _Around the same time on the upper levels_ :

"We've punched through, move, move, move!" bellowed Bulkhead over the deafening chorus of battle, as he slammed a drone into a nearby wall with a sickening thud.

"Got it!" Countered Arcee as she darted through the gap made in defensive line, slashing at any unaware foe that crossed her path.

"I will cover the rear, the rest of you get moving to the nearest groundbridge controls" declared Optimus as he decapitated an opponent that strayed too close. "I will follow."

"Understood." replied the femme as she stabbed a decepticon through the faceplate before vaulting over the falling body. "Bee, with me, Bulk try and keep up and take down anyone that gets past Optimus." the wrecker let out a vocal protest at the comment, but a blast of plasma over his head quickly put paid to it, as the green giant quickly fell in behind the pair as they picked up the pace.

" **Closest departure point is on the next floor down.** " bleeped Bumblebee as he punched a drone to one side " **How are we going to do this?** "

"The elevators always an option but I prefer the direct route." answered the pink and blue Autobot. "Let's get this done, if it is Soundwave in overall command, it won't be long until he'll have us boxed in again" her comrades nodded in agreement.

"I'm picking up a lot of heat coming up from below deck Cee!" suddenly declared Bulkhead over the team channel "I think the ships on fire!"

" **How did that happen?** " questioned Bee as the trio punch through a hastily constructed picket line.

"I don't know and I don't care." countered Arcee "But we can use this, _let's go_." the others nodded in agreement, unfortunately their plan didn't quite work out as a split second later a group of rather angry looking decepticons came storming into view.

"Go left I've got this!" shouted Bulkhead as he started unloading on them with his arm cannon.

"Stay safe!" Instructed Arcee as she ducked into a corridor "Bee keep close." the lead scout bleeped in acknowledgement as he fell in behind her.

* * *

 _A few minutes later:_

"I'm going to need a vacation after all of this." muttered Jack to himself as he slowly made his way down a side passage, the screams of the burning decepticon had quickly vanished as he put some much need distance between the two of them, but the damage had already been done and with every step, a sharp stabbing pain thundered throughout his ruined chest.

"Something's definitely broken, probably several something's." he whizzed as a metallic taste filled his mouth. "Ratchet's going to rip me limb from limb when he finds out." if he ever got back to terra firma that is and to be honest the likelihood of that happening was getting alarmingly small.

"The human went this way, after it!" the robotic tone echoed out from somewhere behind him.

"Nice line read henchman number four." Muttered Jack as he increased his pace, not that it was that noticeable and judging from the systems alerts that were flashing across his internal heads-up display there was a very good reason for that.

"I've got an organic trail over here!" shout someone else loudly.

"Must be bleeding from somewhere." groaned the man under his breath as he staggered towards a nearby elevator, if the noise coming from upstairs was anything to go by then that was his best bet to be getting of this accursed ship; not that it panned out like that at all as a split second later the lift doors opened to reveal another party of drones, who were just as surprised to see him.

"There it is, open fire!" bellowed the lead combatant as it brought its arm cannon to bear.

"Nice line read storm trooper number six!" muttered Jack as he threw himself to one side as the plasma rounds slammed through the air around him, unfortunately it wasn't like he could return fire as he'd spent the last of his ammo on Starscream back in the storage room, so the most use that he could get out of the anti-material rifle on his back was when they got close enough for him to throw it at them.

"I'm going to peel the skin off you and show it to you human!" and judging by the echoing roar that was reverberating of the walls behind him, he might need to do just that when the decepticon second in command caught up with him. "Hope Arcee is having a better time than I am."

* * *

"Hope Jack is doing better than I am." muttered the femme bot grimly as she slammed a servo into the faceplate of attacking drone, which shattered under the force of the impact.

" **This is the last one in here Cee, how's it looking out there?** " enquired Bumblebee over the comm-link as the broken shell of another aggressor tumbled out of a nearby room.

"I'm good, are groundbridge controls intact?" sharply demanded the pink and blue Autobot.

" **Looks like it** " bleeped the scout as his optics scanned over the displays screen. " **Go look for your partner I've got this** "

"You sure Bee?" questioned the femme as she looked over towards him uneasily.

" **Yer, besides no matter how big an aft that human is, he's still part of the team and we don't leave teammates behind.** " declared the mech firmly as he got himself into a better position to hold the line. " **Now get going!** "

"Thanks Bee." whispered Arcee before making a dash towards the lower levels.

"Arcee status report" the second-in-command didn't even blink when her leaders words came rumbling into her audio receptors.

"We completed our primary objective Sir, fall back towards these coordinates, I'm going to go look for Jack." there was a long pause before there came a reply.

"Understood Arcee, we'll hold for as long as we can, good luck, and bring him home." the comm-link went dead as she sped onwards into the depths of the ship. It didn't take long to pick up for the slender bot to pick up on the fact that she was on the right track as she picked up on increased activity on the floor directly below her and judging from the fact that none of them were down there it was a strong indication to her partners location, the fact that there was a blazing inferno not too far away kind of lent credence to the theory, the human really did seem to like starting fires. A small smile darted across one corner of her face plate, not like she could really talk, blowing up enemy supply dumps was always entertaining.

"Commander Soundwave wants us to hold this location, he doesn't want anyone or anything to get down there to help the organic." the echoing voice of a drone came trundling down from a side passage nearby.

"I heard that the human set Commander Starscream on fire." added a second one, Arcee could have sworn that she picked up a note of satisfaction in its tone. "Wouldn't want to be that life form."

"Agreed." muttered the first as the femme slowly inched closer to the source of the information, which was quickly revealed to be a small group of decepticons standing around in front of a fully functioning elevator.

"Looks like I've found my ride." whispered the Autobot as she felt her wrist blades slip out of their housings, someone was going to have a really bad day.

* * *

 **Here is the latest chapter, sorry about the long wait, both myself and my proofreader have been busy.  
**

 **I would ask you to READ & REVIEW if able it means a lot to me and helps a lot.  
**

 **see you all next time.**

 **Gods-own.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Rage against the night: Chapter: 13**

Commander Starscream was not a happy decepticon, not a happy decepticon at all, the mild frustration of the organic interloper had quickly transformed into a fully blown hatred as the scorched flier stormed down a corridor, several drones nervously keeping their distance as their enraged superior led the charge towards the last known location of the human.

"Patrol groups D-17 and D-21 have engaged the organic in corridor E-173 Commander, we believe it was attempting to gain access to the lift network." the now defacto leader of the decepticon let out a pleased snarl.

"Good, tell the drones to take him alive, I want the satisfaction of peeling the skin from his bones myself" snapped the bot coldly. "Everybody else is to focus on the remaining autobots, I don't want a single one of them to leave this ship online, do I make myself clear!" the open comlink lit up with confirmations from his remaining subordinates. "Good, now let's go and have some fun." he chuckled.

* * *

 _Not too far away:_

"God damn it!" muttered Jack grimly as he ducked back into an alcove as a blazing ball of plasma chewed its way through the bulkhead directly above his head split-second later; he'd been launching counterattacks on any drone stupid enough to get too close in a futile attempt to find a gap in the ever tightening perimeter. It hadn't worked, and now the enemy elements had caught on to what he was trying to do, which explained their sudden focus on keeping him pinned in place.

"I'm getting too old for this shit." he grumbled under his breath as he glanced at the slowly spreading stain that that was working its way down one side of his body from where it had started behind a gloved hand, he peeled the limb back just enough to see the burnt and blackened skin underneath. "That's the last time I get hit by plasma." he muttered. In his defense, the bot responsible had only managed to get off a glancing hit on him before the unfortunate attacker had its head nearly completely removed from its shoulders as his combat blade cut through the cables and fuel lines in a gory shower of energon.

"I must admit, you've put up a much better fight then I ever expected from your kind human, but now it ends." the ever present voice of Starscream echoed off the surrounding metalwork as the arrogant decepticon commander drew ever closer.

"Do you ever get tired of talking?" countered Jack tiredly back down the corridor. "I'm starting to see why Megatron hated your noisy ass." the remark was seemly not well received judging by the bellowing curse that travelled back towards him.

"When I'm done with you human, you'll be wishing that Lord Megatron was still online!" declared the flyer as he came stomping into view.

"Because I haven't heard that one before." snorted the agent as he strode out of cover to meet him head on, blades at the ready.

* * *

Arcee let out a sharp curse under her breath as she slammed a servo through a drones visor and into its command module with a sickening crack, the guards that had been stationed to protect the elevator had been taken by surprise, but much to the femme's frustration they'd still managed to put up enough of a fight to delay her more then was wanted as the autobot darted into the waiting lift.

"Arcee what's your status?" Inquired Optimus Prime over the comm as the lift began to rise with a soft hum.

"I'm almost there, what's it like on your end sir?" she could just hear the sound of blaster fire over the increasing static as her superior responded to the question.

"We're fine for now, the decepticons seems to be attempting to overwhelm our position, which means they have to come to us, unfortunately for them the layout of the bridge makes it extremely defensible." there was the sound of tearing metal as the Prime dealt with something on the other end of the line.

"Sir?"

"Everything is under control Arcee, but I would ask that you finish quickly so that we can extract." there was a note of resolution in the mech's tone.

"Understood sir." a ping of notification filled the narrow space as the elevator came to rest on the intended floor. "Arcee out." as the doors pulled apart she fully expecting to be meet with a corridor awash with decepticon, what greeted the autobot was uncomfortable silence, a silence of death, as far as she could see in all directions the hallway was littered with the broken and bleeding wrecks of dozens of enemies drones

"By the all spark" murmured the femme in horrified disbelief as she slowly stepped through the carnage attempting not to step in the congealing pools of energon that had amassed on the floor plating. "What happened here?" she past what looked like an heavy assault mech that had been almost cut in half from top to bottom by some kind of blade judging from the near razor sharp edge displayed.

"Would you like to know?" the choking declaration snapped the bot out of her uneasy as she spun around to focus on the source of voice.

"Starscream." well most of him at least, the once second in command was a lot less taller then she remembered, it probably had something to do with the fact that the mech was missing his legs below the knee joint, he was also short an arm and judging from the slowly seeping fluid that was escaping out from between his digits it hadn't cauterized, unlike his legs.

"You slagging autobots." the mech let out a loud gurgle as liquid seeped into his voice box.

"Look what you did to me!" the femme raised a brow plate."Not that I'm disappointed or anything but we're not responsible for your current condition rust bucket." countered the bot as she allowed a small smirk to spread across her faceplate. "The look suits you"

"I hope that Unicron eats your fucking spark! You and that other femme!" roared the decepticon commander between fitful coughing that covered the front of his breastplate in dark blue splotches, that got the autobots attention as she paused in mid stride to glance back down at the beaten cybertronian.

"What other femme?" she demanded.

* * *

 _A few minutes earlier:_

"What's wrong human, you seem to be running out of energy. Do you need a nap?" mockingly questioned the flyer as he batted away another attack before delivering one of his own that sent the interloper skidding backwards down the battered and broken corridor, the decepticon allowed himself a smug grin, the filthy organic was already leaking fluid from its chassis at a pleasant rate, much to Starscreams clear satisfaction.

"Do you ever shut up?" muttered the intruder irritably as he ready his combat blades once again expecting another attack, which didn't come as the arrogant bot allowed himself a moment to gloat.

"I'll be generous organic, surrender to me and I'll consider sparing your life." stated the decepticon gleefully. "You never know, I might even stop our chief medic from dissecting you to find out how you work." he didn't mean it but the stupid life form wouldn't realize that until it was too late and Knockout was rummaging around inside of him, much to the commanders silent satisfaction.

"Go scrap yourself!" countered the human as he darted back into the action once again, desperately attempting to slash at the exposed parts of his undercarriage that stuck out from underneath his armor, with little to no effect as the loss of fluids had affected the combat capacity of the intruder to a rather noticeable degree.

"This would be entertaining if I didn't have better things to do." snorted the bot dismissively as he lashed out, slamming the attacker away from him in a satisfying shower of dark crimson. "So I'm going to squish you like the bug you are." but he didn't get to carry out his threat as a split-second later there came a startled cry from somewhere behind him and something crashed violently into the drones that were watching the rear.

"Enemy contact! Protect the comma-" the alarm was cut short as there came a sickening crashing sound over the comm-link as someone's voicebox was torn out violently.

"Report!" demanded the flyer as he spun around to see what the hell was going on, the sight that awaited him was brutal, a pair of what he assumed were autobots in matte black paint schemes had rushed his back line and were currently carving a gory path through his drones towards him; or at least he assumed it was him, they might be after the human, he contemplated grimly, which judging from the organics current condition didn't bode well for the mech in question.

"You really shouldn't turn your back on an enemy." chuckled a voice in one of his audio receptors, which was quickly accompanied by a sharp, stinging pain that buried itself in under his right shoulder plate.

"You clinching little pest!" Bellowed the decepticon angrily as he tore at the spot in a futile attempt to deal with whatever was attacking him, unfortunately it didn't seem to be working as another strike hit home, cutting into the under layer and causing a steady stream of cobalt blue energon to burst forth, the blade cutting into the unprotected cables along with a painful snarl from the one effected.

"You really are a screamer aren't you Star, nice to see that hasn't changed." the mechs optics snapped wide as the mocking tone rolled out over him.

"That voice!" but he didn't have time to fully come to terms with the realisation as one of the femme bots smashed through the rapidly collapsing cordon and made a bee line strait towards him. "I won't be taken offline by the likes of you, traitor!" he roared as his blaster thundered, sending plasma screaming down range into the melee, but as always of late, the shots went wide as the approaching cybertronians threw themselves into a sliding tackle that sent the flyer crashing into the decking with a bone shuddering thud.

"You know out of all my old comrades I'd like to do this to, you were right up there at the top sir." cackled the femme as she slashed a combat blade clean through one of the mechs exposed arms, severing it at the joint and earning her a pain filled scream as the decepticon commander desperately attempted to put some distance between them as he made a brake for the nearest exit.

"Well, nice to see that something's never changes Starscream." declared a second voice from close by as a sudden wave of plasma sent him crashing back down to the deck with a thud, minus his legs, which had been left blackened stumps from the knee up.

"Curse you blasted sparks, may Unicron eat you whole!" yelled the wound officer as the two bots towered over his fallen frame.

"I'd forgotten how much he likes the sound of his own voice." muttered the first femme smuggle as she cleaned the gore from her blade. "I'm almost tempted to offline him just to shut him up."

"We have more important things to focus on then the spark of one miserable flyer" stated the second "How is Jack's condition sister? I'd hate if he was damaged." the air shimmered ever so slightly as the unseen attacker from earlier reappeared into the visible spectrum.

"A fucking human!?" Spat Starscream in discussed "Your working with organics now Airachnid!" the former decepticon lieutenant grinned wickedly from behind her jet black paint work.

"What can I say, I like being on the right side of history Screamer." she stated happily before delivering a solid kick to the side of his helmet that sent static darting across the mechs optical display. "Now be a good little heap of rust and stay out of our way." and he dutifully did as the wounded flyer allowed them to go about their business, which seemed to be focused on the wounded human, unmolested.

* * *

 _Back in the present:_

"What happened next con?" Arcee slammed a servo into the metal a few inches from the commanders faceplate. "Tell me!"

"I don't know!" spluttered Starscream in clear desperation "They were talking about taking him someplace, I didn't hear where, they also mentioned some doctor or something, but I didn't hear anything more than that, I swear." the enraged femme lowered here self down until she was on optic level the decepticon, her burning blue lenses drilling themselves into his command module.

"Where did they go?" she growled.

"Towards the nearest ground bridge control room, it's in that direction. If you go now, you'll probably still be able to catch them" the words had barley left the mechs voice box before the autobot had disappeared at a dead sprint leaving the flyer alone with his misery.

* * *

Around the same time:

The world was a gray blur, lights and colors danced across his heads up display as his emergency systems attempted to keep him alive as his life blood slowly seeped out of him.

"Scrap, I can't stop his bleeding." muttered a voice from somewhere nearby. "How long are the modifications going to take? He won't last much longer." a second voice, more cold in nature responded.

"It'll take longer if you keep bothering me." it sounded familiar, and not in a good way. "Just keep him alive until we can get back to base."

"That's easier said than done." muttered the first voice "He's got internal hemorrhaging, most of his ribs are busted and his prosthetics are leaking fluid all over the place." something painful jabbed him into the side of "I've given him a double dose of morphine, which should help somewhat but we need to go right now!"

"We're working on it sister, this hybrid technology isn't always the most simple to install though." declared a third voice, but the noise died as Jack let out a low groan.

"Pits he's waking up." muttered the cold tone sharply "Knock him the fuck out, the last thing we need right now is for him to struggle!"

"I can't you aft I just shot him up with a shit tone of painkillers, one of you will just have to restrain him until we get to a proper medical facility."

"Stop arguing both of you! Sister, keep him under control until we get the ground bridge link established and you!" there was a brief pause "Remember who's spark is on the line, or do I need to remind you what the good doctor can do to those who don't live up to his expectations." there was a low hiss from the cold spoken voice, but before anything else could happen there came the thundering sound of metal on metal as something or someone drew their attentions away.

* * *

The damaged and smoking corridors flashed by as Arcee barreled down yet another corridor, speeding towards the location flashing on her heads up display.

"I need to get to Jack." She muttered under her breath "If Airachnid has him..." the autobot let a shudder pass through her form, she knew from firsthand experience just how monstrous that particular femme could be, but as the bot darted ever onwards, she couldn't help but think about the other individuals that Starscream had mentioned with growing apprehension "Please, please let it not be her." whispered the cybertronian desperately as she caught sight of her final destination, but the fates were not so kind as the all too familiar outline of her once loyal sister.

"Well isn't this a nice little reunion?" chuckled Arachnid darkly as she started to rise from where she was kneeling in front of an open access port, only to be stopped by a glare from Chromia as she stepped in between the pair.

"Focus on the task at hand, I'll deal with my sister." declared the former autobot as she slowly took on a fighting stance. "I'll leave Jack to you sister." Arcee flinched at the remind of how messed up her sibling had become under the "care" of Gearshift and the Illuminati.

"I don't want to fight you! Please just give back Jack and I'll let you go." pleaded the autobot second in command. "Or come with us! I'm sure Ratchet will be able to help the two of you." there was a long moment of silence were for half a second it looked like the elder sibling almost believed it, but the moment passed and an almost sad expression painted itself across the femme's faceplate.

"There is nothing that can done for us now sister, all you can do is mourn." declared Chromia evenly as a set of razor sharp blades shifted into place on her wrists. "Now fight!"

* * *

Chromia launched herself forward as battle was joined between the two, and to give her little sister her credit, Arcee hadn't been holding back on the close combat training it seemed as the femme was forced to block a perfectly timed strike that was aimed at her main fuel line in her neck.

"I don't want to do this Cee, but I have my orders. Family or not, I'm going to see it through." she declared as the pair clashed in the middle of the control room.

"How can you be loyal to them!" snarled her younger sibling venomously "After everything they've done, to you, to Jack, how can you side with the Illuminati!" the older cybertronian turned grim as she heard the organizations name mentioned.

"It looks like Jack trusts you more then I gave him credit for." growled the femme as she slammed a servo into her sisters faceplate, sending the bot slamming backwards into a nearby bulkhead. "A pity I'll have to remind him of the consequences of such an action." besides it would be far kinder if she carried out the punishment rather than the council, they we're going to be pissed at Jack anyhow, no need to add more fuel to the flames.

"I won't let you!" snarled Arcee as she landed a blow into her chassis, denting the metal and forces the turncoat to double over in pain, something that was quickly mimicked as she let out a breathless gasp from somewhere behind her.

"Nice to see that you're not holding back your punches at least." declared Chromia evenly as she spat out a glob of energon. "Good because the only way you're getting Jack back, is by going through me!" the pair slammed back into each other again with a deafening thud as the duo got back down to beating the living daylights out of each other.

* * *

"It would be a lot easier to install this blasted thing if I had some peace and quiet!" muttered Airachnid to herself as she instinctively ducked, something weighty soaring over her helmet before crashing into a nearby wall.

"Sorry to disappoint." declared Arcee coldly as she turned her full attention towards the former decepticon lieutenant. "But it's going to get a hell of a lot worse."

"Don't you dare turn away from me!" roared Chromia as she came thundering back into the melee with a vengeance, delivering a one two combo that sent the autobot staggering backwards, the femme desperately attempted to fend off the relentless attacks being sent her way.

"A little too close there blue!" snapped the bot over her shoulder plate as she manhandled the hacking tool into the right place in the network. "Keep your helmet in the scraping game!"

"That should be my line bug, finish with the override so we can leave!" countered the former autobot sharply as she ducked under a brutal uppercut before rolling to one side as her sisters combat blade cut through the air where she'd just been.

"Just my luck to be stuck with the hard job." grumbled the con bitterly "Should ask for a scrapping transfer when we get back." a bloodthirsty roar echoed off the surrounding space. "If we ever _get_ back." she cursed as she slammed a servo into the plate work in growing frustration only to be rewarded with a sea of green as the systems lit up in confirmations to the request. "Yes!" Airachnid vaulted upright as there was a subsonic boom as a ground bridge portal drilled itself into existence.

"Sis, the ways open time to go!" shouted the augmented human loudly from nearby as she started to carrying their prisoner towards the exit.

"Be right with you!" bellowed Chromia loudly "Go!"

"Jack!" Arcee slammed a clenched servo into the side of her older siblings helmet before making a brake towards the glowing portal.

"No you scrapping don't!" bellowed the former con as she tackled the femme to the floor. "Just be a good little rust bucket and stay down!" but the request was met with blind fury as the autobot let out a deep curse before fully hammering her faceplate into the unprepared opponent features, coating the surrounding plating in energon as the attack bite home, braking something with a nasty crack that sent a spike of pain shuddering though the struggling defender.

"Get out my way! Jack!" the con was sent crashing to one side as the pink and blue femme used ever last atom of strength to break free of the grapple as she attempted to reach her partner.

"You really don't know when to quit do you sister!" stated the voice of Chromia coldly from nearby as a split second later a ball of plasma exploded, connecting with Arcee's right side and knocking the cybertronian down once again.

"Fuck this shit, we're leaving!" declared Airachnid as she scrambled to her pads. "Grab the organics and let's go!"

"That was the plan." muttered the former autobot dismissively as she carefully scooped up her partner and their cargo in one large servo. "Hold on tight."

"Understood." countered the female agent as she wrapped an arm round the unconscious individual next to her.

"See you around pinkie." taunted the spider bot as the rest of the infiltration team stepped through the portal "Better luck next time!" the remark earned her a bellowing roar from the wounded femme as she vanished from view in a green flash, the door way closing behind her.

"Jack!"

* * *

A few minutes later:

"I've got Acree on optics, she's hurt!" the call came over the team-link like a lightning bolt through a clear sky, snapped Optimus Prime out of his contemplations as a few moments later the wounded second in command came staggering into view down a nearby corridor.

"Bumblebee, Bulkhead covering fire!" the chorus of confirmations was quickly drowned out as the assembled bots unleashed blazing fury on their foes as their damaged comrades staggered into the control room.

"She's looking bad boss." declared Bee firmly as he caught sight of the gaping hole that had been burned in her side. "We need to get her to Ratchet."

"Understood" questioned the Prime as he glanced down at his second in command "I don't see Jack with her, what happened?" the femme let out a short whimper as she heard the statement.

"They took him!" she whispered painfully between tear filled sobs "They took Jack!"

* * *

 _ **Somewhere far far away:**_

"It's so nice when my children pay me a visit." Declared Gearshift cheerfully as he came striding over towards the little troupe that were currently escorting a medical gurney into his personal labs "You even brought me a _gift_ , and I didn't get you anything." the doctor joked as he carefully reached down and picked up the trolley, passenger and all. He let out a pleased sigh as the mechs optics fixed themselves onto the sedated figure in front of him.

"Welcome home son, welcome home."

* * *

 _ **Important Notice:**_ **Sorry about the long wait, both myself and my proofreader have been really busy, this leads on to my main point, due to a mixture of time management problems and a wise to focus on my over works I'm bringing this story to an end with a conclusion that I'm satisfied with, If any of my readers would like to to see this fanfic continue at a later date please let me know but as it stands Rage Against The Night will be completed here.**

 **Thank you all who tuned in for reading this fan-fiction, until next time.**

 **Gods-own  
**


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